Have you ever eaten shoyu eggs? I’m guessing that unless you grew up in a Japanese or Hawaiian household, you probably have not, but this dish was a staple in my household growing up! These are still one of my favorite comfort foods, and my whole family loves this dish! It is a quick and […]
Shoyu Eggs –a family tradition!
Do not make this recipe! You heard me right!! Stop right here if you want to continue with life as you know it! Do NOT make this recipe if you hope that you can continue buying store bought corn tortillas without feeling like those cold, flat, breakable, dry corn tortillas will curb your cravings ever […]
Super Soft, Stuffable Corn Tortillas Made at Home!
Mmmmm, a pillowy soft, delicious bread made from beer? Who’s up for some beer flatbread? If you are new to making bread though, I got […] The post Want to try my simple & soft beer flatbread? first appeared on Jungle Living with Jill.
Want to try my simple & soft beer flatbread?
We have had a bumper crop of okra this season! Okra-bundance!!! (As my husband Todd says.) Okra seems to love the warm days and wet […] The post A new twist for using okra… my okra hush puppies! first appeared on Jungle Living with Jill.
A new twist for using okra… my okra hush puppies!
Perhaps you have already fallen in love with green beans in the air fryer? Or perhaps you only use your air fryer for French fries? For those of you that have (or those of you that have not) already experienced the joys of air fried green beans, you need to try my garlic dilly green […]
Garlic Dilly Green Beans (in the Oven or Air Fryer)
Looking for an easy grab-and-go breakfast or snack you can make for just one (or for your whole family)? Look no more! I’ve got you covered this week with not one but two recipes for banana overnight oats 😯! Me and my bowl of banana overnight oats We’ve gone bananas! 🍌🍌 Living on a homestead […]
Banana Overnight Oats — An easy, healthy breakfast for one
If you aren’t familiar with gallo pinto, you probably don’t live in Costa Rica! People eat it everyday for breakfast (and throughout the day). Rice and beans. In fact, people love it so much, they made it the national dish here in Costa Rica! I love my food variety, but I don’t think I could […]
Jill’s Rice Cooker Gallo Pinto (Costa Rican Rice and Beans)
Most everyone knows the impact that time spent in the outdoors can have on our health and wellness, but few probably understand the underlying reasons why.
I now believe it all comes down to Schumann’s Resonance. Simply put, that’s the energy frequency at which the earth resonates…7.83 Hz. It also happens to be the frequency that we should be resonating at when optimally “tuned”. And therein lies the problem. Due to the amount of time people spend in office buildings, in cars, or immersed in electronics, their resonance is often far from that of the earth. So, time spent listening to the seagulls and waves can retune us to a healthy frequency, as can time spent by a mountain stream. These escapes to nature don’t just set our minds at ease. They actually help retune us to the healthy frequency that permits us to be at our best.
Over the past few years, we’ve been intrigued by the testimonials from guests who visit here and spend as little as a few days. They declare how much better they feel afterwards, even health problems disappearing. At first we thought it was the clean air, food and water, which are very important. But I now believe at the heart of it is energy…getting a “tune-up”.
How can you accomplish this while immersed in your busy life? For starters, make sure to spend some time each week with your bare feet in contact with the ground. This simple act can do wonders to bring your energy back in harmony with the earth. Always drink the freshest, healthiest water that you can, and never from a plastic bottle. And need I say anything about food?
So the next time you’re feeling the strong need to get to the beach or mountains but life won’t permit it, just plop a chair down on your lawn, kick off your shoes and dig your toes into the grass. Close your eyes and focus on the birds singing. After 15-20 minutes, see if you don’t feel recharged.
To your health!
My last blog post was 2 years back, when I wrote about the numerous healthy changes we made to our diet and lifestyle, and how much better we feel as a result. The theme of this post is similar, but it focuses more specifically on what I now BELIEVE to be the fountain of youth. (No question mark in this title.)
Through our diet, exercise and detox choices, I’ve often commented to people that I feel much better now than when I was 40…ten years ago. How could it be that at 50 I feel so much better? I recently came across information that I believe explains it, and has far reaching implications for anyone who wants to feel better…and younger.
The theory that was proven to my satisfaction is as follows. Our immune systems are capable of maintaining our bodies in a near perfect degree of tuning, IF they are not under attack by toxic chemical insults. When your immune system must defend itself, it can no longer do what it was designed for…constantly repair and retune the body. By removing the chemical attacks (vaccines, processed foods, medicines, chemtrails, etc) and by detoxing to remove the previous insults your body received, you can actually free your immune system to show what it is really capable of…fixing almost all the health issues that plague you.
Want to get started? See my previous post for some straightforward suggestions that can help. At the end of the day, I feel dramatically better than I did 10 years ago. And if that isn’t proof of a “fountain of youth” then I don’t know what is.
To your health!
Organic turmeric from our homestead.
Often when asked about my age, my response is met with disbelief. This happened again recently, when the inquiring person seemed convinced I was joking when I answered, “48”. A discussion ensued about many of the healthy changes we’ve embraced in our lives and…perfect blog entry!
One approach is to take you through a typical day at the Hinson homestead in the southern Pacific mountains of Costa Rica. Upon rising in the morning, the first priority is ‘oil pulling’ with organic coconut oil. What is oil pulling? It has been a staple of Indian ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years and has gained more and more followers in the west. Simply put about a teaspoon of coconut (or other) oil in your mouth and swish around for 10-15 minutes. Spit it out, then rinse twice with water and discard. It may sound crazy, but oil pulling can lead to countless improvements in your dental and overall health. Just make sure to use chemical free coconut oil so you “detox” instead of “retox”.
Next up is what we call the Water Chug. I drink about a liter (one quart) of room temperature water as quickly as possible…in about 30 seconds. Different folks have different capacities for the volume and timing, but the idea is to drink as much water as you can as quickly as you can. Why? Think of it as turning a hose to your GI tract, flushing everything that settled in your system overnight. It’s a great approach to detoxing and can produce incredible health benefits. Don’t confuse this with getting plenty of water during the day. The morning water chug is something entirely different.
After my coffee, the next unusual ingredient in our morning is a drink containing diatomaceous earth (DE). Made up in water or juice, DE powder is stirred in and quickly consumed. Why drink the fossilized “skeletal remains” of ancient algae? The outer shell of diatoms is largely composed of silica, along with a few other ingredients. DE is incredibly versatile, useful as an abrasive, for filtration, insect control, and pet and human health. For people, make sure to purchase food grade DE. The far reaching benefits for human consumption are beyond this blog entry, but please read up on this amazing natural product. We treat it as a general part of our detox routine, and we have good reason to believe it’s making a difference.
After all that…breakfast! There are far too many elements to our diet to summarize here, but suffice it to say we know the source of the vast majority of food and drink we consume. You are what you eat…let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food…etc. We gave up beef, pork and poultry years ago, but we do enjoy fish and seafood a few times each month. The rest of our diet is heavy in locally grown rice and beans, along with a variety of eggs, fruits and veggies from our homestead. A common ingredient in much of Jill’s stellar cooking is organic coconut oil, something known to promote brain health. Results with coconut oil and dementia patients are often stunning. Turmeric and black pepper are also used liberally in the Hinson kitchen, for their many benefits when combined.
Quality, all natural personal care products comprise another point of focus for our family. High quality soaps from Red Mountain Goodness are extremely important to us, since commercial “soaps” are typically nothing more than a patented combination of detergents and chemicals. When you contemplate changes you can incorporate in your life that have the biggest impact, ponder what else do you spread over your entire body once a day. Now consider that your skin is a highly absorptive organ. Don’t believe me? Try rubbing a clove of garlic on your bare foot and count the seconds before the taste appears in your mouth! Shampoos should also be all natural whenever possible.
Deodorants that contain aluminum, polyethylene glycol, etc? If you consider the ever increasing breast cancer numbers in the “developed world” , you might want to avoid such ingredients. Baking soda is a very simple yet effective deodorant you can use. And the more “detoxed” your body becomes, the less need you’ll have for deodorant! Commercial toothpastes are another problem, and we’ve been working on our solution to that for the past year. As with anything that goes in or on your body, just make sure to read and understand the ingredient label.
One final note…any of these changes in your healthful routine can initially produce side effects such as headache, upset stomach, general achiness, etc. If that happens, stick with the change for a few days and see if the symptoms subside. Often it’s due to the toxins buried deep in your body beginning to surface on their way out. During this transition period you may sometimes feel uncomfortable, but in the long run it is a short term price worth paying.
To your health!
June 2020 update….
Though this information remains completely relevant today, I do need to make a couple of additions. A newer part of our daily routine is grounding, or placing our bare feet in contact with the earth for 10 minutes. The reason is that doing so resets our energy to match that of Mother Earth, and the health benefits of that are amazing. See “The Earthing Movie” and “The Grounded” on YouTube for more information on grounding, and different ways to accomplish it. One excellent way is to simply ground your bed using a grounding sheet that you purchase or by using your own approach.
The other big addition to our health routine is taking bamboo charcoal powder. Though there isn’t a great deal of information about this supplement online, a similar commercial product is C60 Purple Power. You can read about that product to get an idea of the wide ranging benefits of taking charcoal powder daily. We mix our powder, made here at our homestead, with olive oil (1 part charcoal powder to 2 parts olive oil), then take 1 teaspoon of that daily. Typical results include increased energy, better concentration and multitasking, improved digestion, and many other reported benefits. My theory is that since the charcoal powder is almost pure carbon, and since we are carbon based, our bodies are able to use the excess carbon to optimize systems. That is why we hear that the powder tends to help with whatever health problem an individual has. But since charcoal can be detoxifying, heed my earlier advice about possible early aside effects. If you buy charcoal powder for daily consumption, make sure it is NOT activated. That is great for short term detox, but not for daily use.
Finally, including naturally fermented vegetables in your diet (not to be confused with pickled or canned!) adds powerful microbiotics that will improve your digestion, and quite possibly improve your mental health as well.
Let me know if you’d like more information about this amazing gift from God that you can make at home.
December 2020 update….
An important recent addition to our wellness routine couldn’t be much simpler. When drinking water throughout the day, we now add baking soda first….about 1/4 teaspoon per liter. This easy and inexpensive practice helps maintain an alkaline environment in our body, and this is key to protecting against most all diseases. Cancer and many other diseases require an acid environment to thrive. By maintaining alkaline conditions you stop them before they get started.
August 2024 update….
57 years old. 💪🏻💪
31 Aug 2025 update
Something we’ve done for years and forgot to mention….solarizing. Spending 15 minutes in the sun on a solid sunny day provides most of the Vitamin D you need. And vitamin D is super important to your overall health. 👍🏻👍🏻
A new life in Costa Rica 