Wellness Mama®
Simple Answers for Healthier Families
These natural remedies are effective at speeding recovery from illness and injury. They are a combination of herbs, supplements and lifestyle adjustments to help your family bounce back from ill health.
Foot problems like athlete’s foot and bunions aren’t just unsightly, but they can be uncomfortable too. Surgeons perform over 1 million bunion surgeries every year in the US, and sometimes multiple times on the same person. Thankfully though, it is possible to relieve the pain and heal bunions naturally. What Are Bunions? What bunions are …
Did you know that the heat of summer could increase your risk of developing kidney stones? It’s true. Experts have found that as you sweat more and become dehydrated, the minerals that usually stay dissolved may build up and lead to kidney stones. That’s particularly if you have a tendency toward getting kidney stones. If …
Over the years I’ve collected some tried and tested flu remedies to keep my family feeling our best. While I love my garlic, raw honey, and elderberry, it’s nice to have a few targeted remedies in the arsenal. This wild cherry bark cough syrup helps soothe persistent coughs, especially at nighttime. How to Use Wild …
It’s no secret that we’re all about natural remedies around here. Every mom should have a few tricks up her sleeve for remedying minor ailments at home without resorting to harmful chemicals. Here are five natural remedies for a pesky problem that has ailed many of us from time to time… icky, peeling athlete’s foot! What Is Athlete’s …
You all know I’m a fan of using coconut oil and olive oil on skin and hair, but another all-star natural moisturizer around the home is pure shea butter. (Something about the name just even sounds luxurious, doesn’t it?) Whether or not you have dry skin like me, you’ll love shea butter’s benefits. It can …
I make a lot of my health and beauty products, so body butters like cocoa butter and shea butter are staples in my home. But there are other body butters that have their own set of benefits for hair and skin. Mango butter is my new favorite body butter to experiment with. It’s moisturizing, soothing, and …
Nosebleeds (epistaxis) are a common occurrence for many adults and children because of the nose’s high density of blood vessels. Luckily, nosebleeds are usually easy to stop at home. But when you deal with frequent or chronic nosebleeds, you may be wondering if there are any natural remedies that can stop from occurring in the …
It’s always fascinating to me to learn about the health benefits of common kitchen spices. We use ground cumin powder when we make chili, tacos, curry, or fajitas (which is often!). In fact, cumin is the star in a whole host of Mexican, Spanish, Middle Eastern, and Indian dishes. In the US, cumin is commonly …
Who knew that nearly half of all the plants around us are edible? For many, sumac is one of those plants. Sumac berry clusters have been used for thousands of years as both food and medicine. Here are some sumac benefits and how to use it in your own home. What Is Sumac? Isn’t sumac …
I’ve already posted in depth about some of the major problems with modern use of essential oils (in one of my most controversial posts to date), but essential oils do have many benefits, so I wanted to cover the positive side as well. Benefits of Essential Oils Though essential oils do have a dark side if used …
We all know head lice is no fun, and quite possibly a terrifying prospect for any parent to deal with. As more drug-resistant strains emerge, it takes a bit of research to know what natural methods to deal with lice actually work. Especially when preparing for the start of school, a refresher can help! Here are …
I’m always looking for the safest way to deal with my family’s minor health issues — and that includes our pets too! Fleas are a common issue with cats and dogs but conventional flea products are chemical-heavy. I wanted to find a safer option for keeping fleas away and dealing with infestations when they occur. …
It might just be that I’m spending a lot of time outdoors with my kids, but this summer has seemed unusually hot to me. Not only has it been hot, but the humidity and heat index seem to be competing to see which can break the most records. While some days I’d rather just camp …
You can’t out-supplement a poor diet (or poor sleep or high stress either). But even with a perfect diet and great sleep, it is still possible to experience nutrient deficiencies because modern foods can be deficient in certain essential nutrients. To ensure we get enough, I make homemade herbal teas (packed with micronutrients) and rotate various …
Headaches are often a sign of a deeper problem (like magnesium deficiency). Sometimes though headaches have a practical cause, like five-kids-playing-marching-band-in-the-house-syndrome. Whatever the case, a natural headache relief stick can help. I almost never get headaches anymore since changing my diet and boosting my magnesium levels. Every once in a while there’s unavoidable stress or …
This natural sleep tincture recipe is made with some of my favorite herbs. It’s naturally relaxing, calming, and great for a better night’s sleep. We don’t need it often, but if I’ve got a sick kiddo, or we’re traveling and schedules are crazy, this is the one I reach for. And it doesn’t just work …
I’m a huge proponent of getting great sleep, but when snoring is an issue, it’s likely that no one is getting very good sleep! Snoring is a common issue in adults (and can happen to kids too!), so it’s something worth investigating if you or your child are not sleeping well or just don’t feel …
Chickweed is one backyard herbal remedy that’s good in salad and doubles as a skin salve. You’ll often spot its white flowers poking up through the grass in early spring. Read on to see how to make a chickweed salve (and why you’d want to!). Chickweed Benefits Like many other weedy spring plants, chickweed is …
If you’ve ever had food poisoning, you know how miserable it is. I always keep natural remedies for food poisoning in my natural medicine cabinet ever since I experienced food poisoning myself (many of these remedies I already had for other uses!). After a lovely date with my husband on a Wednesday night, I started …
Red clover is one of my favorite herbs to have on hand. If you go out into your yard in the spring and summer, you’re likely to see it (depending on where you live). Like many “weeds” around us, red clover has many health benefits. I use it in teas, in cooking, and topically for …
I love herbal remedies for mild ailments that we can take care of at home, and my comfrey leaf salve has been a go-to for years. Comfrey has come under some scrutiny in medical literature, so let me take you through the benefits and risks of this pain-soothing, skin-nourishing herb. What Is Comfrey Leaf? Comfrey …
Weird fact about me: I can’t stand bananas. That said, they still have their uses, like banana bread, as a sleep aid, and to ward off aphids from roses. Wait… what?? Seriously, banana peels have a few surprises up their sleeves. What’s in a Banana Peel? Banana fruit is high in carbs, potassium, and vitamins …
Despite our best attempts to live a healthy and toxin free life, there are times when illness or injury strike. In some of these cases (like trauma) conventional medical treatment is certainly warranted, and I’m certainly grateful that medical treatment is available if needed. But what about the times when the illness or injury is not life-threatening, …
After a surgery my husband had years ago (with resulting secondary infection and IV antibiotic use), his gut needed a little extra help. A gut rehabilitation he was following at the time (see below) suggested he try making a cumin coriander fennel tea to help his bloating and digestive problems. It worked! Now we are …
