What Makes Me Holistic?

Quite often, when I sit down to eat with people, someone will comment to me that they should be eating healthier or that they are starting their diet on Monday, etc., as though I'm judging what they are eating at that meal. Believe me, I have no room to judge anyone for ANY reason.

 Being holistic does NOT mean I eat perfectly, exercise all the time, or take tons of supplements. If you know me in real life, you know that while I have obtained knowledge, I have had my struggles with living a healthy life. I began my holistic journey six years ago. I am now fifty-four and have had to overcome many years of bad habits, trauma, poor self-image, and a multitude of regrets.

I want to share with you the things I have changed over the last six years that have put me on a better path toward health. This is not to condemn anyone's choices but rather to show that it has taken six years for me to get to this point. I still have things in my life I want to change. I am all about baby steps. Leaps and bounds can be overwhelming and will often set us up for failure.

Let's start with the definition of holistic.

 Holistic, adjective,  /hoʊlˈɪs.tɪk/ Dealing with or treating the whole of something or someone and not just a part.

I think "wholistic" describes this better. It is looking at the whole person, body, soul, and spirit, as well as environmental factors, relationships, stress level, and other external factors, to identify the root cause of a person's issues. Suppressing symptoms with drugs rather than getting to the root of the problem leaves people sick, requiring refills on their prescriptions.

Everything and everyone around us contributes to our overall health. It matters who you hang out with, the thoughts you come into agreement with about yourself, the way you see other people, as well as what you eat, drink, and breathe.

In the next section, you will see a lot of things that cause inflammation. Inflammation is the beginning of chronic disease. We want to nourish our bodies in a way that decreases inflammation, heals free radicals, aka damaged cells that can turn into cancer cells, hydrates our organs so they can function optimally, and so we can have energy and feel good everyday.

Please take note that the toxins absorbed through our skin, as well as the ones we eat, drink, and smell, go to our liver. The liver is our major detox organ. That is its job. It is also the beginning of the digestive system. If your liver is congested from years of toxins, it is not going to function as well as you need it to.

Often, the liver will shunt toxins to our skin to relieve its workload. This can result in rashes, spots, skin cancer, acne, etc. An overloaded liver can result in weakened gastric juices, which keeps food from being properly digested, leaving us malnourished. Decreasing the toxic load on your liver can have a huge impact on your health.

Physical Health

I recently blogged about my current health endeavors. I have been on the carnivore diet for a couple of months at this point. My body is pain-free, and I am healing. Click on the link to read the post Carnivore Diet: 60 Days In.

Here are some changes I have made in my kitchen: (If you are not familiar with essential fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6, please read my post Vitamin F (Essential Fatty Acids).)

• I use grass-fed butter and not margarine. Margarine is high in omega-6, which causes inflammation. I fry in butter or tallow, not inflammatory seed oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, or peanut oil, which are also high in omega-6.

• If I use sugar, I use raw cane sugar, not the artery-clogging, ultra-processed, bleached white sugar. Most restaurants use this.

• I use unrefined mineral salt, not the blood pressure-raising, ultra-refined, bleached white table salt. Most restaurants use this.

• I buy organic as much as I can, or at least non-GMO.

• Here are two things I am adamant about buying even though they cost more:

  • Grass-fed ground beef, preferably grass-finished.

    • Grass-finished beef is high in omega-3, which has many health benefits. Grain-finished beef causes the beef to be high in omega-6, making it inflammatory.

  • Pastured eggs

    • Eggs are nature's multivitamin. They have almost everything you need nutritionally. When chickens are allowed to eat bugs and not grains, they provide higher levels of omega-3, vitamin A, and vitamin E in the meat and the eggs. Grain-fed chickens (labels will say vegetarian-fed), for meat or eggs, are high in omega-6, causing inflammation.

• I filter my water for drinking. If you don't use a filter, then your body is the filter. I add mineral drops, or electrolytes, to every refill of water in my water bottle. Magnesium, sodium, and calcium are some of the electrolytes responsible for proper hydration.

• I only use stainless steel (cast iron is excellent, too), but never ever use frying pans with Teflon or any other coating. They contain toxic forever chemicals that get trapped in your body.

• I never ever use aluminum foil. When used for cooking, aluminum is leached into the food. It has been proven in autopsies that people with Alzheimer's disease have very high amounts of aluminum in their brains. Unfortunately, we breathe aluminum when they spray the skies for cloud seeding.

• I am transitioning away from plastic dishes and cups to glass or stoneware due to the microplastic overload our bodies are already experiencing. We get microplastics from takeout plates and utensils, plastic zip bags, food packaging, etc.

• I never ever buy foods containing high fructose corn syrup. This is the leading cause of fatty liver disease. It also traps heavy metals in the body, especially mercury, causing toxicity.

• I always read food labels. I avoid products with chemicals and choose products with ingredients I can identify as much as possible.

• I make fermented foods and beverages because of their probiotic content. Things like sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir can change your gut health and improve your overall health, including mental health.

Water Kefir

Personal Hygiene

•  I switched to shampoo bars with clean ingredients. Many of the shampoos bought in the local stores contain ingredients that cause hair loss, like sodium lauryl sulfate. The chemicals are also absorbed by the skin and wind up in the liver.

• I quit dying my hair years ago when I learned the dyes can have up to 5,000 chemicals in them. Those chemicals are absorbed through the skin and go to the liver.

• I use very little hairspray. I haven't found a clean one yet.

• I switched from soaps with fragrance to a coconut oil-based castile soap. Castile soap is made of pure ingredients and can be used for hair, face, body, and home cleaning. (See the environmental section concerning fragrances.)

• When I use deodorant (see my Carnivore Diet post to understand this), I use one that is very low on EWG's toxicity scale. The Environmental Working Group has a database that lists all the products we use on our skin called Skin Deep. It rates them according to cancer risk, allergies and immunotoxicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, and shows use restrictions.

• I'm still trying to figure out makeup. I have made my own makeup powder from cocoa powder, cinnamon, and arrowroot powder. That worked really well. I wanted a liquid makeup, so I switched for a while. I'm planning to make more powder soon.

• I switched from regular toothpaste with a lot of chemicals to coconut oil. After using coconut oil for a couple of years and not going to the dentist regularly, I still had no tartar and very little plaque. I do use an electric toothbrush, so that also helped.

• I whiten my teeth with baking soda and lemon juice or hydrogen peroxide (look for less than 3% on the bottle).

• I use tallow as a moisturizer for my face and body.

• I never ever use sunscreen unless it is mineral-based. Being on the carnivore diet, I don't burn anymore, so it's not an issue for me now.

• For hand soap, I use a liquid castile soap. It is very concentrated, so it doesn't take much in the refill bottle. Just add water.

• I still paint my toenails even though nail polish is a known endocrine (hormone) disrupter.

  
  

 Environmental Health

• I no longer burn candles. The lovely smell is toxic oils that are deposited on the membranes in your nose and absorbed into your bloodstream. They eventually wind up in your liver. I use an essential oil diffuser. Essential oils have many health benefits because they are herbal. Ezekiel 47:12 says, "...Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” These fragrances do not harm your health when inhaled, but can actually improve your health.

• I no longer use laundry detergents. The detergent is deposited on clothing that sits against the skin. The skin absorbs these toxins, which wind up in the liver. The smells of these products are also absorbed through your nasal membranes, just like candles. Instead, I use a cup of vinegar for clothes and a cup of vinegar, some borax, and/or baking soda for towels. It does the job just fine and is way cheaper than detergents, which are mostly water anyway.

• I don't use dryer sheets for the same reasons as above. I don't have a problem with static cling.

• I clean my house with vinegar, baking soda, and borax. These disinfect counters, toilets, bathtubs, and floors. Baking soda works like Comet in removing most stains. You can also clean your counters and stove with vinegar, while your food is cooking or sitting out. You don't have to worry about contaminating the food. No, my house does not smell like vinegar.

• I haven't settled on anything in particular for dish soap. I am planning to try castile soap, but I'm not sure how that will work on grease. We shall see.

  

Mental/Emotional Health

The number one change I made for my mental and emotional health was letting everybody else go and taking care of myself. That sounds kind of selfish, but it's not. I'm sure those people are grateful that I'm not working overtime trying to fix them anymore. Jesus opened my eyes to the fact that I was focused on everyone else as a distraction from dealing with my past pain, health problems, money problems, and emotional problems.

I was physically unhealthy in a lot of ways because I was mentally and emotionally unhealthy. I had not dealt with things from the past, and they were affecting my present. I listened to Him and began working to let others go and face my problems head-on. I made this decision two years ago. Now, I have more mental clarity, peace in my emotions, and my body is healing. I am not fully healed in any area but I am making progress.

Spiritual Health

The most life-changing decision I made was to follow Jesus. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." I found Him. Now, I have peace, and I am happier than I have ever been in my entire life. Truly.

Allowing Jesus to work in every area of my life was allowing healing in every area, too. He has helped me by leading me and showing me the right thing to do. Jesus loves us that way. He is all about relationship, not rules. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, our lives can be completely transformed in every area if we allow it.

Jesus knows what I need way better than I do. He has had to heal so much brokenness in me because of my bad decisions. I want Him to be able to spend time using me to further His kingdom and helping people, instead of having to fix areas again that He has already worked in. I am working every single day to bow my mind, will, and emotions to Him and surrender every area of my life for His use. I must become less so He can become more in me.

 Resources

1. Research shows eggs from pastured chickens may be more nutritious | Penn State University. (n.d.). https://www.psu.edu/news/agricultural-sciences/story/research-shows-eggs-pastured-chickens-may-be-more-nutritious

2. Aluminum induced oxidative events and its relation to inflammation: a role for the metal in Alzheimer’s disease. (2000, June 1). PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10875435/

3. holistic. (2025). https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/holistic

4. Clinic, C. (2025, June 17). Is castile soap a Cure-All cleanser? Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/castile-soap

5. Zinn, M., & Bockmühl, D. (2020). Did granny know best? Evaluating the antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral efficacy of acetic acid for home care procedures. BMC Microbiology, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-020-01948-8

6. Slusher, T. W., & Inc, N. E. (1977, June 13). US4096005A - Pyrotechnic cloud seeding composition          - Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US4096005A/en