Crunchy Confessions: How We Declared War on Everyday Toxins

Dive into our 'Crunchy Choices' episode where we explore our journey towards a more natural lifestyle! From homemade health remedies to chemical-free living, discover how small changes can have a big impact. Join us as we share personal insights and tips on embracing a 'crunchier' way of life. 🌿 #CrunchyLiving #NaturalChoices

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Transcript

00:00

Because you were like, no, I'm fine. I was like, this is not normal. Like, this isn't how you should have to live your life. And so we started tracking it. And yeah, we started cutting those things out and you haven't had one and I don't even know. We stopped tracking because they stopped happening as frequently. Welcome to Velvet Ventures. Where we talk about life, marriage, and the pursuit of entrepreneurship. I'm Ben. And I'm Shani. Business Health Market, better known as BHM.

00:29

isn't your typical insurance broker. They're the rebels of health insurance. They're not here to sell you insurance. They're here to revolutionize the way small businesses approach employee benefits. As fierce advocates, they're committed to transparency, empowerment, and crafting tailored solutions that fit your unique needs. BHM offers a range of services. They're not just brokers, they're partners in your journey to business success. For more information, there's a link below this episode.

00:57

So we're going to talk today about our crunchiness. Today's episode is literally named Crunchy Choices. Yep. Yeah, and how we snuck them into our lives. Cause I don't think either one of us is a, you know, what we would make fun of before as being crunchy people. But I think the more that education has gotten out there and just awareness.

01:26

And I think that we as humans, we go full cycle or full circle in life because we probably made fun of our parents for using a coupon. And then now we're sitting there like, ooh, is it you have a coupon? And I think that as you get older, you start to value some of those things. And so for me- What is crunchiness? Well, I think our biggest thing is getting some of the chemicals out of our lives.

01:57

you know and that is not including diet art pepper yeah not getting rid of chemicals some chemical i think it started with red 40 yeah food dye that's what kind of started all of this because i was watching a doctor and professor who was talking about the effects of on children and noticing and dealing with some behavioral stuff with the kids and stuff

02:26

and seeing like, man, what is going on? And I think when you couple that with the lack or less activity than there was, I don't know what I was necessarily like as a kid. I know I ate Red 40, you know, whenever I was a kid, but we also didn't have tablets and TVs and...

02:50

and whatnot, like I mean we had a TV but it was connected to an antenna and you got three channels and so 90% of the time there was nothing on. And so we just weren't allowed to watch TV like that and so we were just outside playing so I don't think it had as big of an effect because we were just running it, literally running it out of our systems. And so you start coupling like, okay well you can't keep just like eating 10,000 calories a day.

03:15

If you're in high intensity sports, you can totally eat 10,000 calories a day and be okay. Right. And some should. Right. But then it's like you can't... I mean, you look at a ton of professional athletes. They are so used to consuming this many calories and stuff. And then within a couple years of them stopping playing whatever their sport is, they are going through a weight loss transformation or they're realizing that they're doing this because their body was so used to burning.

03:45

so much fuel and now they're not having to. And so I think the realization that was okay, the kids can't keep doing the same thing and it's not going to affect them like it maybe didn't us or Iowa didn't notice it as much or whatnot and so and every kid. I think it's just so

04:13

The chemicals are a little more prevalent now than they were in our food sources when we were kids. Sure. Not by a whole, you know, not just leaps and bounds. I don't think, but... Because we didn't pay attention back then. Right. Well, and there wasn't science. If there was a kid that acted out, it's just that was a bad kid. It was never looked at like, well, maybe red 40 is making this child angry or having big emotions because it's playing with the hormones inside and literally the brain chemicals.

04:42

inside of the kid. It was never like maybe they shouldn't eat fruit roll-ups, you know? Well, I think too, you know, the other thing is that when you, I mean again, it's just such a vast topic, but you know, red 40 may not have been as big a deal, but now it's like, well now you're ingesting red 40 and 20 years ago it wasn't as big of a deal because there wasn't this other chemical that's now also being ingested and now these two are reacting.

05:09

And then it's making a worse effect. Yeah. And so I think it's just that whole amalgamation of all these chemicals. Because it's not just like, this one is the devil. Right. But you know, you take seed oils and the inflammation that they cause and all this stuff. And it's like, well seed oils haven't been around that long. I mean, some versions probably have and some will probably say, well they've been around since this date. I did not do research. But they have not been around forever. Like I don't recall ever seeing...

05:36

you know, um, you know, avocado oil or rap seed oil or grape seed oils or all these things when I was younger, like they weren't as prevalent and readily available to my knowledge. Yeah. And so, but now it's just like with anything, like now there's been a time period where people have now been able to study and see the long-term effects of these things. And so... So what is, what are some of the...

06:03

like diet decisions that we've made that are crunchy. I mean, number one, we shop at Aldi's a whole lot more. Yeah, and we shop there because if as long as it's their brand because they're a German company, their government just doesn't allow them to use Red 40. So you don't even have to read the label and see necessarily. Yeah, it's paprika that's coloring the Cheetos, not. Yeah, it uses, yeah, they use different thing, they use beetroot.

06:30

powder or they use paprika or naturally occurring things. Yeah. And it's more just about, one, they have interesting things there so I enjoy that. But two, yeah, it's like you can just know that I can go in there and pick up anything that is their German brand and I don't have to think about read through the ingredient. And typically when you look at a chip or name it...

06:57

if you just go to Walmart and buy it, there may be 40 ingredients on there. Right. And you go to theirs and it's not that theirs is perfect, but theirs has, there's 14 ingredients and there's still some stuff in there that I would rather not ingest, but it's not that bad comparatively. Does it taste the same? No. But again, that's where the government, science...

07:22

the companies and stuff are like, we don't care what it does as long as it tastes good and how can we make it addicting? Because then we'll sell more. And that's okay. And I say it's okay, it's not okay. But it's once you can understand that everything is a business, then you understand their reasoning behind it. Yeah, they're gonna make it taste the best that they can and last the longest that it can because they want to sell you more.

07:52

I hate saying it, but I'm like, it is what it is. Until they put more regulations on it, nothing's going to change because when there's money to be made, you're not going to turn their heads. Diet wise, yes. Anything with Red 40, we try to eliminate or drastically reduce.

08:16

we try not to keep a whole lot of processed snacks or processed foods. For the most part, the thing that we consume the most that is the most processed is corn tortilla chips on a regular basis. Outside of that, it's like we don't keep a lot of chips in the house, we don't keep really candies and stuff that's just readily available. We don't.

08:41

And typically we hide our candies. Yeah. Like I, I wanted some salted caramels and I have like that bag. I think it came with like 30 caramels in it. I'm still working on it. It's been two and a half months because I just want one every once in a while. Right. And when like Kirby, she's.

08:59

I mean she still has, she would still, like we went to the parade in Lindsburg a couple weeks ago, like she still has her bag of candy from the parade and there wasn't that much. You know it wasn't like a gallon Ziploc bag and like her Halloween candy, we're going to end up throwing away most of it because she won't eat it. You know she's not, she likes sweet things but she doesn't necessarily like, that's the thing I've realized is that she wants something sweet after a meal but it could literally be a lollipop.

09:27

An apple. An apple, something like, she wants something sweet, but she wouldn't even eat a whole piece of pie. Or a whole piece of cake. Or she might eat three or four cookie, like Oreo cookies, if that's what we were having. But she barely will eat one chocolate chip cookie.

09:44

You know, and so like she loves chocolate. So like you can give her a handful of chocolate chips. And that's just the go to like, I am fine with you having dark chocolate chocolate chips because she loves them and go for it. So some of the other crunchy decisions that we make as a family is you make our hand soap and our dish soap and you make our laundry soap.

10:09

and you make some lotions and you make your own beard oil. So like when it comes to that kind of stuff, like the stuff that goes on our body, why do you choose to do that? Yeah, fragrances. Because by regulation standpoint, they don't have to tell you what's in perfume. They literally would just put on their perfume. There could be millions of chemicals.

10:37

in to make up a perfume. You know, there's just, there's this vast number of, of things and chemical combinations that, that make up perfume. And it's just like a slap it on there and well, we labeled it. Yeah, it's like carb. You did not do any of that. Okay, well kind of carb. Right. And so I noticed that like skin irritations and

11:06

breakouts and like rash eczema type things just have gone away by just switching from basically Tide Pods to making my own soap. Is it the prettiest and most convenient? Nope. Am I working on it? Like yeah, we'll eventually get there but like it's it is not difficult and it is... How many ingredients? Four? Yeah.

11:36

four if you count the essential oil. You know, but other than that, yeah, it's basically three active ingredients.

11:43

And you don't typically put the essential oil in the liquid detergent, you put it on the wool ball for the dry cycle. Correct. So you could change the scent every cycle or every season, as often as you want. Yeah, because I like our bedding to be one, so if I know that we're washing our comforter and our sheets and stuff, I will use maybe more of the lavendery type bergamot calming scents. And then on our clothes, I may use more of the...

12:12

sweet orange or the tea tree or during the summer using lemons and citruses since. But I noticed even just for me, on the middle of my back between my shoulder blades used to just always stay so itchy. I would wear down the corners of the door jams scratching my back like a bear. And I barely ever do that now. And the only thing is just, again, by process of elimination.

12:40

was the fragrance and the dye in the clothing detergent. You know, and, um, and I've gone as far as like I've made dishwasher detergent, but that one I haven't like stuck with. So I still use store bought, uh, soap. Uh, but

13:06

Yeah, I mean like the lot of soap. When you even use like the soap that I made. Yeah, goat milk soap. Yeah, goat milk and donkey milk and all that for his body wash. Yeah, I will, I refuse. Yeah, I do not use any commercial soaps. I will not use any shampoos that are commercial. So I actually have the stuff now. I think I have all my ingredients for making shampoo and conditioner. Which he uses on his beard.

13:33

I know there's going to be some people that are like, why do you even need shampoo? Well, I'm doing it for Kirby more than anybody. And eventually I'll get you on board, but you're a lot harder to like wean off of that. Well, and I just have like the weirdest hair. I have to use deep clean because as I've gotten older, my hair gets oilier, faster. And so like I don't use any conditioner ever. And anything that's like hydrating or like anything like that, just.

14:01

it won't wash out of my hair and so it makes my hair look like it's dirty even though it's clean. I will get you to try the natural shampoo because and I don't know if it'll work or not but also it's like giving it more than one wash like use this for two weeks. Use it for two weeks and if it sucks for your hair then don't use it but we need to try it and see because.

14:28

You know, I know that hair falling out is natural, but I do not know how you still have hair on your head. Yeah, shed like a dog. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. And I know that that's a fairly normal thing, but like, is that normal? Because everybody's using highly chemically processed shampoos and like, hmm. Well, it was worse. There was a time that I used Pantene, and it was much worse. Right. And then come to find out Pantene also sells hair growth.

14:58

products. So I'm like, okay, so your product destroys my hair growth and then you sell a hair growth product. How convenient. And so I don't use any Pantene products anymore. But yeah, I haven't moved over to a natural shampoo yet, but that's just because I'm a little obstinate. Yeah, you haven't made it for me and I'm a little obstinate because I don't like my hair looking.

15:25

greasy. Of course I also wear hats 90% of the time so I could try a natural product if it didn't work as long as the bottoms of my hair looked clean. I could try it for two weeks and then tell you like, I don't like it, my hair, I've not been able to take off a hat in two weeks. What's fascinated me as I've gotten older and started paying more attention to these things is realizing how much of our daily lives...

15:53

that things have been, we've been inundated with that mean nothing. Like the foaming of your shampoo, the foaming of your toothpaste, like the mintiness of your toothpaste. The mintiness is only there so you feel like you're clean and the psychology behind that is that you will feel dirty when you don't taste minty.

16:17

That's why they all taste like mint. That's why they all have that like burning sensation because then once that burn is gone, or once that taste and that foaminess of the tingling of your toothpaste or mouthwash is gone, your mouth feels dirty. Therefore, you instinctively want to brush your teeth more. And that's just the thing is like, soap does not have to be lathery, foamy.

16:42

stuff, they do that so that way you can see it and you can see it being washed off and it gives you... It's all psychological. How much of the things in our daily lives is 100% just psychological? Because 50 years ago there was a really good sales guy who partnered up or was also a really good psychologist and just knew human behavior and studied it. Now millions of people...

17:11

feel that if they don't have blank in their product that it's not working. But yeah, there's a lot of those things. And just again, time tells information. And like fluoride in toothpaste and those certain things, it's like, yeah, I like the fact that it helps with anti-cavity, but I don't like what it does to my gut.

17:40

you know and so

17:44

don't make other adjustments. But yeah, I mean that's our big thing. And then just getting away from any kind of, I think, synthetics, like I don't wear colognes anymore. I mean it's not that I still have some, because yeah, maybe if we're going on a date night, or we're gonna go do this, I can, but.

18:07

if I just sprayed it on me all the time like I used to or whatever every time we left the house like I just had headaches all the time and burning cheap soy candle or paraffin candles and stuff like just instant headaches and I can walk into someone's house and if they're have 37 of those glade wallflower plug-in whatever things like not every single time but more often than not like I'm probably going to leave that house with a headache

18:37

That's okay. Do you think that some of that though is psychological, just like the bubbling of the shampoo? I think there might be more instinctive now, but used to, I mean you can attest to this because we had those things, we didn't know why it was. The headaches were real. No, and I understand because you did every 45 days, like almost to the dot, it was migraine. And you'd have a migraine, you'd have small headaches, and then migraine, and then small

19:06

And so there was like four days and it was every 45 days almost literally to the dot. Because I finally started tracking him because you were like, no, I'm fine. I was like, this is not normal. Like you this isn't how you should have to live your life. And so we started tracking it. And yeah, we started cutting those things out and you haven't had one. And I don't even know. We stopped tracking because they stopped happening as frequently. But there's sometimes I feel like you could have walked into a house. And if you've never known there was Glade wallflowers,

19:36

you wouldn't have a headache. But as soon as you do know that they're there, then you start getting a headache. Well, see, the thing is is that I don't look at it like that because I can smell it. I don't need to see them. I can walk in. And like I said, some of them aren't as bad as others. Okay, so let's say candles. If you walked in and you smelled candles burning. If somebody told you they were paraffin. No. I feel like you would

20:06

start getting symptoms of a headache. And then if they came back later and said, oh no, I'm sorry, they're soy. No, I don't think that because I can go into some places like the bookstore, like their burning candles. I think it's also a proximity thing. So how tall are the ceilings? Are you walking in the mist of the perfumes or the aromas? Or is it like just an ambient, like there's enough space that it's not as concentrated?

20:36

But no, I don't think the candle thing is as big a deal because I've been in places, even the bathroom, you're burning those cheap candles in the bathroom earlier. It wasn't a headache thing. I don't have a headache or I didn't get a headache smelling them. But sometimes I can smell them and it's not always an instant headache. Being in one of the business that I'm in, I'm in people's houses.

21:05

a big deal because like it might be one or maybe they use a better one or maybe it's the scent because whatever's in the perfume. Yeah I can understand the actual scent because like pine perfumes give me a headache. Pine trees not every time but sometimes even still pine trees. The sweet pea I have never been able to stand the sweet pea. It gives me instant headache. And I mean when that was like one of their signature scents I couldn't even go into the bath and beyond. Bath and body works.

21:35

because it was like their scent. And so I couldn't shop there. Now that it's kind of taken a back seat, as long as I'm just not like sniffing or huffing on those candles, I'm pretty much fine. But yeah, there's definitely certain scents that give me an immediate. Yeah, well I was in a client's house. And I think sometimes it's just irritation. Right, well that's why I'm saying like- Like I don't have a headache from sweet pea, I just get instantly irritated. Right.

22:00

Well that's the thing is again because there's so many chemicals you don't know that it's oh it's molypaleethylene blah blah. Right it's my red 40. Like instantly I'm pissed.

22:09

And so we don't know that that's the chemical, but we just know that there are certain things. Because I was in a client's house this week, they had some sort of plug and I couldn't see it, but they had some sort of artificial fragrance in their house. Didn't bug me at all. It wasn't super strong, but then one of those make ready homes that we were going into, because there was an odor in there, they plugged in like 36, they put two glade oil diffusing plug in things in every room to kind of start getting the smell out.

22:40

I was physically nauseous the entire time I was there. And it's like, I understand, and they just acted like it was nothing walking through, but again, it's like how things.

22:53

affect different people and just being a little bit more understanding in that someone else again can eat foods and it doesn't make them fat and some people can withstand heat or I can withstand cold a lot better than some people and noises and all those other things just play into it and so it's like being conscious and just making decisions for yourself.

23:15

I am self aware that those artificial smells, they trip me up. So we don't do car fresheners, we don't do those candles. We've switched to incense and even some of the incense, it's like the smell of it, I'm like, not a fan of that. So I think it's just trial and error and finding what's going to work. But...

23:38

you know that's why I'm fixing them. I literally just got in yesterday the wicks to make our own candles because I know we both love burning candles during the winter time and during the cooler months and I want to burn candles. I love burning candles but not at the expense of my nasal passage. And so I bought all the stuff to the beeswax and the hemp wicks and stuff that's like we're not burning.

24:08

I like the wood ones and stuff, but again, those put off smoke and stuff. And I'm not trying to put that in the house, but we run air purifier. We run, I run our air system.

24:20

pretty much always just on circulate so that way it's constantly moving air around and why when we build our home someday it's fresh air system is like number one on my list. Like I will put in, I'll paint our own house if it came down to like well you can pay to have all this painting done or you can pay for this like I'll go with that and I'll paint. You know but I, the mechanicals are going to be super important because I mean I look at

24:49

You know, I mean, we have people that we know they have allergy congestion issues. And then like when they're at our house, they start going away and they start doing better or they can breathe or I mean, even us going from living in our 1920s house to living in a newer house that probably like that house probably had mold, you know, it was super leaky to the attic and who knows. There's no way it didn't. Oh yeah. No.

25:17

It for sure did. Yeah, and so I think there's just another aspect of just clean air. I can tell a physical difference when we're somewhere that does not have good air quality or if we go sleep somewhere that just doesn't have good air quality and stuff. We started using pollen instead of allergy medicine, so we've been on allergy medicine for about two years and we just do natural pollens.

25:47

Does it work as good most of the time? Yes. There's very few days that I'm like, man, this just isn't doing it. And what's nice is you can't overdose on pollen because it's naturally occurring and it's literally about the allergens in the air. So if I have a rougher day, I take more pollen. And typically that does the trick. But we get it from a local beekeeper. So it's all stuff that is currently affecting us in our area.

26:15

And we typically one jar last us about six months. So once multiple people using it, you know, yeah. And so, I mean, we, we purchased it about every six months and everybody in the house uses it now and we've had far less allergies with curb. I mean, she used to have, she had such bad allergies at one point. I took her in because I thought she had COVID or the flu or like, which

26:39

COVID is the flu, but. Right, that variant is the flu. Yeah, I thought that she was like, seriously ill, need to be pulled out of school. Turns out, no, it was literally just an allergy attack. And that's when we had her on, even at that point, we had her on medication. I mean, we had her on Zyrtec, and then every 30 days we'd switch her to Allegra, and then we'd switch her to Zyrtec, and then we'd switch her to Allegra. And she was on Flonase, and she still had to take decongestant almost every other night just to sleep. Now she's just on pollen.

27:09

That's it. And we haven't had anything even remotely close to that. Yeah. And so when she comes back from her mom's, like, we can visibly tell, like, you need pollen ASAP. Right. It's only been a few days since you've gone without it, but like you need it now. Right. And so we typically double up the first day that she's back and then she's back to normal. Right. But pollen is definitely a crunchy thing that we do. Well, and I'm just a firm believer that

27:37

and understanding that people, again, we go through cycles and those things that were not important, like getting good rest. Used to it was like, oh, I'll just go till I fall and then I'll just wake up and keep going, going, going. Now it's like, no, no, I need my rest. I'm not necessarily a big nap person. I wish I was, but I am very much a, I need to be in bed at a certain time or it's gonna throw my day off.

28:05

And I think I have a decent leeway in that, but, you know, and also just trying to keep some normalcy there. So like I try, I set my alarm every morning for six.

28:16

doesn't matter what day it is, I get up at 6, I have my little morning, you know, piddle around and then I do my Bible study and I try to spend 30 minutes doing devotionals and just quiet time and then Kirby comes down and then she does hers with me and we kind of hang out before school and those routines are important in that cycle of...

28:43

rest and being able to be present. But yeah, I mean, it's like a form of meditation, if you will. Introducing Gallery Flow CRM.

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29:26

of CRM. Get ready to supercharge your business and unlock your full potential with Gallery Flow CRM. For more information, there's a link below this episode. But, but yeah, I mean, and I try to switch out, you know, our, I mean, anything that I can switch out chemically for something different. I mean, I'm trying different things with, you know, room sprays, you know.

29:55

see some you know some asian people that were talking about something that they do in their culture which is you know soaking cinnamon sticks in vinegar and it's different and what's funny is like i think it smells good because to me it smells like apple pie but it's funny because not everybody gets that and i think that obviously people are different but also because it's not culturally what we do and that's just not something that it's like

30:24

It's just not normal. You need to get Febreze and you need to just basically gas your family. I'm just realizing and doing a little bit and do your own research. I'm not a doctor and I'm not here to say that this is what you should be doing. This is not advice per se. This is our experience. I bought those rugs.

30:51

and they weren't terribly but i mean you know i've i shampooed them and i do use a chemical for that you know just shampoo carpet solution in a machine but then instead of using more chemicals on these wool rugs to do uh... to get rid of any orders that were lingering you know i a

31:14

After shampooing them, I let them dry for a while and then I just cover them in baking soda and then let that work in a little bit and leave it for a day. I mean, typically, that's a three-day, four-day process to clean these rugs, but anyway, then I do that and I let it sit for 24 hours, vacuum all that up, but then I come in there with that vinegar and cinnamon concoction.

31:40

and spray them down and then let them sit for another 24 hours and then they're good to go. But it's like then we're not taking these chemically pumped fragrance fill that's just masking the scent and putting it in our kids' rooms. To me that's just important.

32:07

from when we grew our own food, we did a lot of those things. And so it seems more natural to me because I remember mom making some things. Like, I don't know, I don't recall if she ever made laundry soap or hand soap and stuff, but there was just a lot of things that she's like, no, we just make it. You know, she didn't buy a lot of, like we never had freezer meals growing up.

32:35

that I can recall anyway. And so I think getting back into the habit of like, like I don't buy, I try not to buy like the breakfast sandwiches. I would rather make English muffins from scratch, do all that like it, it, it takes an hour or two, you know? Um, and then freeze them and try it. And then like, I'm going to try doing like some breakfast burritos. And so

32:58

it's not that it's not like a calorie thing or it's not a well those frozen jimmy deen sandwiches are garbage it's like i'm not saying that but if you look at what i put in to making something that was super easy and very sustainable and you know it's not something that's like well it takes so much time and money it costs less to make the sandwiches

33:24

than it did to go buy them. But you look at the ingredient list even on how they make those things shelf stable for months on end, there's 82 ingredients between the croissant or whatever the bread is and then the meat, which has all this other stuff in there. And then there's the yada yada yada. Well, because they have to preserve every individual ingredient. Right. And so you have all that stuff. And then it's like, you look at what we did and it was like, eggs.

33:50

ham so salt and water and pork egg um i used a uh like a tail mock cheddar cheese just a straight up cheddar and um and then the english muffins you know it's literally just flour water yeast a little bit of a pinch of sugar and salt and oil i think yeah and i and olive oil and then

34:20

the sandwiches, so like literally 10 ingredients between, and that's including salt and pepper. And then you just put some sriracha on it. But yeah, I mean that's kind of the avenue that I'm trying to go down is I'll try to make the food and freeze it or what not so that way you can have frozen meals or that way we can have those things that are cost effective but also just like...

34:49

Well, for me, it's just convenience. Like when it comes to during the week, if I can't microwave it, I'm just probably not having lunch. Yeah. And so it's healthier for me to have microwave options than just skip a meal. And I'm not going to like I might get up and make a taco. But like outside of that, like if it's if I can't microwave it to fix it, I'm just not going to eat anything. I'll have like peanuts or something like that. Right. So.

35:16

I need microwave meals just to make sure that I actually eat. Eat? Yeah. Yeah. But. I think that and like I said, the seed oils, you know, not using those. I mean, I keep vegetable oil on hand for those rare occasions, but like used to I would go through quite a bit. And now it's, you know, that one bottle, I buy the small little bottle of vegetable oil.

35:42

and I will use that for frying if I was to fry something. But outside of that, maybe if I'm making a cake, will I use a little bit of that? But outside of that, if it's anything else, breads, most dessert, pretty much anything, we go through a lot of olive oil and I get cold pressed the real deal. It's more expensive and you got to be more thoughtful with it.

36:08

That's all we use now. I don't do avocado oil because you're allergies, but I don't do grape seed oil or canola oil or any of those seed oils because they're horrible, inflammatory. Yeah. And then I think I'm probably less crunchy than you. I don't mind when you switch things up, really. Like it doesn't, I don't really care either way. Right.

36:35

I'm definitely crunchy when it comes to bath time. Like my baths, I swear by them, they will fix anything. Cause like I have ADHD and OCD, I don't take medication for them. I've struggled with anxiety and depression for probably most of my life, at least since I was 16. And when I was in sports, that kind of was the outlet, but when sports was no longer an option just cause of injuries and I'm old now.

37:05

I've already got arthritis because of the sports, then the bath was kind of like the replacement for me. And so But I mean it's got hydrogen peroxide. I used to grow our own herbs. Now I'm using a lot of essential oils because it's winter and we don't have a garden at the new house. So I'll probably grow some peppermint and some rosemary and stuff like that. But for now, it's just essential oils. I use a lot of natural oils.

37:35

castor oil, vitamin E, epsom salt, baking powder, borax, hydrogen peroxide. Milk powder. If I want my, the only thing milk powder does is it makes your skin softer. Sure. But yeah, I mean, I take two to three baths every single week, but anytime that like the nieces come over and they're feeling sick or icky at all, I give them a bath. And most of the time they wake up the next day.

38:05

No more fever. They don't feel sick at all. They're back to their normal selves Or I mean even today like nieces came over and you know, she was like, sorry. She's a little gassy I'm like, yeah, we can fix that. So I just gave all three of the kids baths and She was not once gassy or had issues. She ate all her lunch like no issues whatsoever And so for me, I'm like here drink this, you know peppermint or drink this

38:32

We use lemongrass on the yard to keep the mosquitoes away. But I think my bath time is probably where I'm crunchiest. And then when it comes to gardening and herbs, like all the different ways that you can use herbs and the natural way to keep bugs and predators away. And it's not even that I'm adverse to the chemicals necessarily. Like I don't think it has anything to do with that. I just think it's cool that...

39:01

these things are natural, like God already gave us the solution, why are we trying to overcomplicate it? So it's not like I'm like, oh, chemicals, er, you know? Like they cause cancer, la la la. Like I'm not, I'm not crunchy in that sense, but I'm just like, why overcomplicate the process? You know, like they literally used to cure and treat cancer with hydrogen peroxide baths. So why would I not put hydrogen peroxide in my bath?

39:29

Like it helps your white blood cells fight off viruses because it increases the oxygen because it's double oxygen, you know? And so like why, I mean, I don't get sick. And even during COVID, I was a non-masker. I'm like, oh, I smell pissed half the people off. But like, I didn't mask. I went out, I lived my normal life. I did not change the way that I lived whatsoever. You got COVID, I slept in the same bed as you.

39:57

I had several other people around me get COVID. I never once got COVID. And I mean, I would literally intentionally eat after you just to try and, let's just get it over with. Let's get this flu thing out of the way. I don't take flu shots. I don't do immunizations. And I have not been sick since I was basically nine. Outside of like, that time of the month. But I just, and it's not because I'm particularly a healthy person.

40:26

also just with your genetics. Yeah. Because some people, you know, they are going to be more susceptible because of their, you know, what, and too, I mean, you know, I think we're both learning more and more. Like I've been doing a lot more research these last two years on, you know, just how the human body kind of works and how they talk to each other. And I think you're getting more and more

40:55

have an ear to it, like with gut health and stuff and realizing like how much of your body is affected by that. And so, I mean, you know, I mean, it just may be that you've always had really good gut health for some reason. You've always had good levels of chemical balance and stuff. And so you haven't had a lot of that stuff because you've had a healthy gut. You know, you don't really eat a lot of different. When working in the insurance space.

41:23

I, like my pole pole was in insurance as well, so I kind of got to see it from, you know, even a younger age, but I refuse to be medication dependent. Yeah. And so for me, like, I'm not, I'm not interested in something that takes away my ADHD. Mm-hmm. I honestly feel like it's one of my superpowers.

41:49

especially when you combine it with the OCD. Like I think that it gives me the ability to do some things that other people wouldn't just naturally be able to do. But it's a gift. And so if I am mute it with medication, then I can't function the way that I was designed, literally designed to function. And now obviously there's people with severe ADHD, but I do think that there's some natural ways to kind of curb that. And if medication is the only way,

42:19

that's fine, but what's the smallest dose of medication that you could possibly take while using some natural remedies? And so for me, the bath is what helps me slow down my brain without medically inducing a coma-like state for my brain. And with what I do in the creative spaces of our businesses, I can't mute.

42:45

that part of my brain. I need it firing fast. I need solutions fast. But at the end of the day, I need my brain to slow down so that I can sleep. Or I need to be able, that's probably why I read better in a bath. Because I've got the right essential oils firing off the right things in my brain, telling my brain to slow down. Telling my body, hey, we need to get rid of these viruses. Hey, it just signals.

43:12

the inside of me to operate properly without having to medication induce things to operate properly. Yeah. Well, and on that also, it's like if you have something severe like that and you do feel like it needs to be medicated, it's like that's okay if you're using that to then...

43:41

learn how to regulate naturally and not like, oh, I'm just gonna be able to take a pill or a shot and then that's just gonna cure me. And so it's like, no, no, no, that's just gonna make you dependent on something else. Right. Well, that's like, I mean, I've got nerve damage because of the spinal injury in cheer and I just kept cheering through it. So now I've got nerves that have redirected themselves in ways that they're not supposed to be. And so that causes pinch nerves and you know.

44:09

my hands and feet go numb at random points and things like that. And I've pretty consistently had severe pain, severe back pain from the age of 17, really after I had my son. So at 18 through, I mean, even when we met, I would have days that I was literally just down for the count, especially during that time of the month. I could not get out of bed for two days. I was in so much pain. And now I still have pain.

44:37

but it's not debilitating. There's not been a day in the last two years since I've started regularly focusing on my bads and what I put in them. I've not been down for the count for two years because of back pain. And there's still nights that like I have a pinched nerve and so I'll scratch really hard or like I toss and turn a lot, but it's not debilitating. I mean, I would literally have sores on my legs from scratching so hard.

45:06

And that's just not something that happens anymore. Yeah. Well, and she gets a lot done sometimes. Like if she can get on a project, when it's that time of the month, I think you'll just try to work through it because it's a lot better just to stay active than if you lay there or you try to rest. Because instead it's like half the time when those things, I say half the time. There have been times when it's like, why are you outside gardening?

45:34

hauling these heavy rocks around or doing this or doing that while this is going on. Like, isn't this supposed to be a painful time? Yeah. And it's like, well, if I just induce pain over here. Right. If I'm already in pain, then I might as well just do this because, like, yeah, I don't want to add an extra day of pain. I'm already in pain. Let me just get done this thing that I already know is going to hurt me because I'm already hurting. Right. Which is probably not the wisest, but...

46:00

But that's where my crunchiness comes out. I honestly, I don't think there's anything that I probably like health-wise, couldn't help with one of my baths. If I was given the right ingredients, I think there's, I don't think there's really anything health-wise that a bath couldn't help. Yeah, well I think one thing that you said that kind of, a thought that I had was, again, going back to...

46:26

studies from psychologists and stuff with human behavior and environmental behavior and when you said that you read better in the bath because you think, you know, it calms you down to a point where your brain can focus and it's not running a thousand miles an hour.

46:51

that next thing that want to try to do but it's gonna be very difficult is going to take a while because it's i've been working on it is getting a lot of talks out of the bedroom like completely no electronics no phones charging next to the bed no tv's on none of those things and the reason is because of of ours of the kids of ours

47:19

the thought of not having a TV on at night is like, she's getting anxiety right now. Yeah, this is where our crunchiness disagrees. Right. But the amount of signals and the amount of waves that come off of our phones just sitting there, how that affects sleeping and your brain being able to shut down and heal itself while it's sleeping.

47:49

But my point to all that is...

47:55

having spaces that are four things. And by that I mean, like, for me I do not read well in bed. Because to me, the bed is a place to sleep. So whenever I get in bed, it's sleepy time. You know, it's not, I'm gonna lay in bed and do a puzzle, or I'm gonna lay in bed and watch a movie, or I'm gonna lay in bed and read a book. Nope. I'm gonna lay in bed and I'm going to sleep.

48:23

and I think that it's important to have places that you do stuff. So having a place to like, like, you know, Craig was talking about one of the assertments talking about this, you have a place that you do your devotional or you have a chair that you read in or like Maxwell, he has a chair that is his idea chair and this is where he sits and comes up with ideas or he does blank. And I think that by creating those kinds of spaces,

48:52

and learning how to use them and how those things affect you is going to help you in your anxiety or in your development because if, like eating, if you always eat in front of the TV, the living room is the dining room and there isn't a form of community and there's just all these things that I don't think that we realize affect our day to day lives.

49:19

and like how we interact with different spaces, how we interact with each other in those spaces. And so there's just, there's a lot of stuff and I'm finding it very interesting the more research or the more reading I do about those kinds of things. And so anyway, it's just fascinating to me that just how powerful the human brain is and the fact that it's, you know, it will tell you what it needs.

49:50

and it can either need silence or it can need stimulation or it can need these things but how we also get to the point where we numb it to the point where then it can no longer communicate with us and tell us what it needs. I think that's the other thing that really just kind of clicked with me yesterday when we were talking with a potential client.

50:19

in their business is essential oils. And to me it was always like portrayed. And I think again, this is just where the marketing geniuses at like the cigarette companies or the big pharma companies haven't gotten into the essential oil space because there's not as much money in it. But the branding and the education behind it is not as prevalent because

50:45

I was always kind of under the assumption, I guess, that it was more about what was in the oil that is going to heal you. Instead, having that realization that it's like, no, it's about the scent that the oil gives off that triggers the electrons in your brain and your body that says, hey, we need to heal this cell. It's about...

51:13

triggering and turning on or turning off those molecules and those electrons and those sensors in your body, that that's all it is. This is a message. That it's not what's inside of it necessarily. I mean the quality obviously yes, but it's more about the scent or the things that it communicates. It's a vessel of communication and that to me was such a realization that's like, oh f***.

51:42

it's not about... Yeah, instead of using Ben Gay, you could use the right kind of peppermint, essential oil, and the peppermint in the Ben Gay is the only thing that's actually loosening your muscles. The rest of it is just a preservative. Right. And so knowing that now and just like... Or even just taking a literal peppermint leaf and rubbing it on a sore spot.

52:05

Is doing the exact same thing as been gay. Yeah, and I mean she had that one I don't even remember what it's called, but you know, it's like you rub it on your hand She's like here take this and she rubbed it on our palms Rub your hands together for a second and then just cup your face and inhale deeply Like I don't know about you, but I just felt like my airways opened up Yeah, like it was just stimulated and it just grew by twice. I could just breathe You know, and I'm just like, oh my word

52:31

But so anyway, so those kinds of things to me is very eye opening and now it's like, oh, it doesn't seem like such hogwash that's like, okay, you're over here with your frankincense. And now it's like, okay, so this is just a, it's like a wire.

52:49

And if you don't press the key on your keyboard, it's not doing anything. Right. But once you press it, it sends a signal to your screen to put this letter on the screen. And that's what essential oils are is that between A and B it's that line of communication and it helps that communication. It's just a light switch. Right. And so, but like, did you notice last night, like, did you sleep any different that you could tell or like, was it, did you have any like weird dreams last night? Did you have any?

53:18

Did you feel like you slept fairly good or? Yeah, I felt like I slept good. Cause like I put that magnesium spray that I made on your feet and like I've been- I didn't have the tingling, like the nerve tingling. Yeah. So I've noticed that I made that spray a couple days ago and I've been using it for a couple days and like I have not gotten up to go pee. I did, several times. Sure.

53:41

but you also sleep with a cup of water right next to the bed. And I never drink water. So when I do, it just like immediately comes out. You always you don't drink water during the day, but you'll drink a 30 ounce cup right before bed and then I wake up in the morning and you've gone to the bathroom like three times. But like I tried not to drink anything an hour before bed to help not have to get up and go to the bathroom. But

54:10

I just notice like I don't recall ever waking up or anything these last couple nights with using that because your feet have the biggest pores and then when you have that... Well magnesium just absorbs better when you soak in it or put it on your skin versus ingesting it. Right. But because your feet have bigger pores, that's a good constant like...

54:32

square inch for square inch, your feet have the biggest and most pores to absorb it. If you're not going to bathe in it, you can literally just make a magnesium chloride spray, spray it on your feet and rub it in, let them sit there for a second, and it's going to absorb right into your bloodstream a lot quicker than if you were just put it on your hands.

54:56

I'm interested and I wanted to start using it because I wanted to try it for a little bit before I started using it on the kids. When Kirby comes back Monday, I'm going to start doing that at bedtime just to see if that helps with 30 minutes for bedtime, hit him with the spray, and just see if that will start calming the pre-bed jitters and the wanting to ask 30 questions and not wanting to go to sleep.

55:26

Yeah. So if you'd like some of our crunchy recipes, hop on our website and shoot us a message and we'll send you some of our crunchy recipes. Yeah. I'm thinking I might end up, I know I'm going to do this for the guys for Christmas. I'm going to make, because all my brothers have, and my dad have beards. So I'm going to make beard oil for Christmas.

55:51

but I was sitting there thinking about it and I was looking at the supplies and sometimes it's best to make a certain batch because of being able to mix everything appropriately and actually measure everything out. So in order for me to make the batch that I want to make, it's probably going to make more like 30 or 40 bottles of oil and I only need five. So...

56:17

I'm thinking instead of just making the five, I'm thinking about getting the stuff to make the full batch and then doing like a limited run on there. So we may list that on our Facebook page or something for those that are in the area who Yeah so follow us on Facebook too. Yeah want to pick up a thing of homemade beard oil and then you can have this.

56:46

Good chatting. You too. See you on the next time. Bye. Crunch. Thanks for turning into the velvet ventures. If you'd like more information about who we are, what we do, or you wanna follow us or any of our companies, then feel free to check out the link below. Other than that, thank you so much to our sponsors for making this episode possible. See you next time.