The wonders of baking soda! It truly is one of the most versatile household products you can ever have in your home. Whether it’s used as a household product or a personal care product, baking soda has got you covered! Baking Soda: More Uses Than You Could Expect Let’s take a look at the uses for baking soda I’ll be covering in today’s article: Laundry detergent booster Deodorize your fridge Microwave cleaner Oven cleaner Carpet cleaner Carpet deodorizer Tile floor cleaner Polish your teeth Freshen your breath Skin exfoliation Relieve diaper rash Sooth skin irritation Heartburn remedy Jewelry cleaner Wash produce Deter ants As you can see, baking soda is a must have in every household. The best part of it all? It’s so expensive. Let’s get started! 1. Laundry Detergent Booster Adding ½ cup of baking soda to each load of laundry will soften the water which allows your clothes to be much cleaner and softer. It also helps your laundry soap to stretch much further! 2. Deodorize Your Fridge We all know ‘that odor’ that can accumulate in the fridge! Placing an open box of baking soda will help eliminate those odors. It’s most effective when placed in the back of the fridge. Be sure to change out the box of baking soda every 2 months. 3. Microwave Cleaner Cleaning a messy (sometimes crusty) microwave can take a bit. Messy microwave clean up is a cinch with baking soda! Just simply sprinkle baking soda on a damp cloth and gently scrub the mess away. It will also deodorize any odor in the process. 4. Oven Cleaner As with microwave messes, oven messes can be just as time consuming but, not with baking soda! All you have to do is sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on the bottom surface area of your oven. Using a spray bottle, dampen the baking soda with water and let it sit over night. Scrub away the mess the next morning and be sure to rinse completely with water. The rinsing process is best accomplished with a spray bottle and a damp cloth. 5. Carpet Cleaner My sister recently let me in on a great carpet cleaner recipe. She says it’s the best carpet cleaner she has ever used! Recipe: ½ cup of water ½ cup of white vinegar 1 tablespoon of baking soda 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide Directions: Mix all ingredients well in a spray bottle. To remove carpet stains, spray the cleaner on the carpet stain and simply dab away the stain with a light colored, slightly damp cloth. The hydrogen peroxide did not affect the color of her carpet. However, if you are apprehensive, you can test the mixture in a small ‘out of view’ section of your carpet first. 6. Carpet Deodorizer To deodorize your carpet, sprinkle baking soda and leave overnight. The following morning, using a broom, sweep up the excess and vacuum up the rest. 7. Tile Floor Cleaner This recipe is great for cleaning and deodorizing tile flooring! Recipe: ½ cup of baking soda Bucket of warm water Mop and enjoy! 8. Polish Your Teeth About once a week, add just baking soda to your toothbrush and brush for about 3 minutes. This will give your teeth a whiter, more polished look. Brushing daily with just baking soda can be too abrasive and, in my opinion, can wear down the enamel. However, there are folks who swear by it. 9. Freshen Your Breath For an easy mouthwash recipe that will freshen your breath, check this out! Recipe and directions: Mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a glass water. Swish for about 30 seconds and spit. 10. Skin Exfoliation Do you have sensitive skin? Do most facial scrubs leave your skin dry? Try this recipe for a gentle facial scrub that will get rid of dead skin and leave your face nice and smooth. Recipe and directions: Mix 3 parts of baking soda and 1 part water. Rub gently onto skin using small circular motions and rinse clean. Pat dry. 11. Relieve Diaper Rash To help relieve diaper rash, simply add 2 tablespoons to your baby’s bathwater. 12. Soothe Skin Irritation To relieve the discomforts of skin irritation and to soften your skin in the process, simply add a cup of baking soda to a warm bath. Soak for about 20-30 mins. 13. Heartburn Remedy My personal experience…. I have suffered from acid reflux and heartburn off and on for about 5 years. At times, it has woken me up in the middle of the night. I lived on Tums. Recently, my mother introduced me to a remedy that has made me toss the over the counter antacids for good! It also seems to relieve the occasional gas pains that accompany my heartburn. One night, as I was visiting her, I got heartburn. I asked her if she had some Tums and she says “I have something better!”. It’s so simple and so effective. Within 5 minutes after drinking this, my heartburn completely disappeared. I couldn’t believe it! If you suffer from acid reflux and heartburn, I encourage you to try this recipe. Recipe and directions: Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to 8 oz of room temperature water. Stir and drink. Optional: you can add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice for taste. 14. Jewelry Cleaner (Sterling Silver) I recently gathered all my sterling silver jewelry to clean it. Some of it was so tarnished and I remember thinking “this will take all night to clean!”. In the past, I have polished my sterling silver with just toothpaste. I would add a generous amount of toothpaste to each piece of jewelry, let it sit for a bit, then go back and polish each piece with a terry cloth. Well, the night I gathered my jewelry together, I got an idea to mix toothpaste and baking soda together to clean my sterling silver. I took about a nickle size amount of toothpaste and an equal amount of baking soda and mixed them together using a toothpick. I applied the mixture to one of my rings and the black tarnish literally came right off (with just a circular motion of my thumb) and it did not scratch the sterling silver at all. Afterwards, I rinsed each piece with warm water and dried them with a terry cloth. Each piece looks brand new again! 15. Wash Produce Here’s a great recipe for washing all your fruits and vegetables! Recipe and directions: Add a ¼ cup of baking soda to a sink full of water. Wash and Rinse. 16. Deter Ants Combine equal parts of baking soda and table salt and sprinkle at all their entry points. They will avoid those areas! Clean My Space shows us a video on 10 cleaning uses for baking soda: What is your favorite baking soda use? Do you have an use you would like to share with us? Tell us in the comment section below! UP NEXT: 8 Baking Soda Uses For Your Survival Garden To Try Follow us on facebook, instagram, pinterest, and twitter!

Click to Skip Ahead What Is Burdock Root? How Is Burdock Root Given? Missing a Dose Potential Side Effects  Frequently Asked Questions Before the development of pharmaceutical laboratories, traditional medicine started by using many plants and herbs to help the body heal and naturally treat skin conditions and other ailments. And in fact, we still use herbs and plants for their medicinal properties. One of the plants better known for their medicinal applications is the burdock plant (Arctium lappa), particularly the burdock root. In fact, burdock root was valued in traditional Chinese medicine due to its ability to“detoxify” blood and promote circulation. It has also been used topically to treat conditions such as eczema. In this guide, we’ll learn more about the burdock root, what it is it what are the claims and what has been studied and what are potential medicinal applications in dogs. The information in this post is merely informational and it is in no way intended as a prescription or recommendation. At Dogster, we do not recommend offering any supplement or medication to your dog without your veterinarian’s prescription. What Is Burdock Root? Image Credit: Tricky_Shark, Shutterstock Burdock, also referred to as Greater Burdock (Arctium lappa), is a plant belonging to Asteraceae family just like the aster, daisy, and sunflower. This plant is native to Europe and Northern Asia and while it has been used for centuries in traditional medicine, there is very little research out there about its use in canines. Anecdotal reports say the root is successfully used topically in dogs to help with skin issues such as swollen and red skin due to allergies the medical term for this condition is canine atopic dermatitis or canine eczema. And while there are no in vivo studies to prove this,  concluded that Burdock root extract stimulates chondroitin sulfate biosynthesis, and modulates pathways that regulate cellular functions which are particularly important for the wound healing process. These properties might be linked to the anecdotal success of the use of burdock root as a treatment to reduce pain and inflammation caused by arthritis in dogs. Burdock root is one of the ingredients listed on some of the immune support dog supplements sold online. The antioxidant compounds found in the root would be behind this claim, however like with many of the herbal medicines, the reality is that we lack sufficient studies to firmly support its effects. This thistle-like plant is hardy and easy to grow in your garden in rich soil. How you store the root will depend on how it is prepared, which we’ll discuss further in the next section. How Is Burdock Root Given? Image Credit: ALPA PROD, Shutterstock Typically, the most common way to give your dog burdock root is given to a dog is in the form of commercially available supplements that consist of a combination of this root plant and other herbal medicines. Several of the herbal blend products containing Burdock root are liquid tinctures that can be mixed with your dog’s food. The root doesn’t taste very pleasant, so a disguise will be beneficial in getting it into your dog’s system, but the liquids can be squirted into your dog’s mouth if they tolerate it. You can also find burdock root extract in a chewable tablet or powder form. Each commercially available herbal blend containing Burdock is marked for different purposes including detoxification, allergy relief, immune supplement,  joint care, and even urinary tract support. Before choosing any of these herbal supplements, it’s essential to consult your veterinarian. We do not recommend taking it upon yourself to decide whether or not any of these commercially available supplements will help your dog. Holistic veterinarians occasionally recommend herbal medicine, they have the necessary knowledge and experience to decide if your dog will have any benefit from this herb. The vet will give you the most appropriate preparation and recommend how much and how often to give the root to your dog, as the dose will vary depending on your dog’s weight, size, and the ailment(s) you’re treating. We advise you never to give your dog the root unless you get the go-ahead from your veterinarian for safety. What Happens if You Miss a Dose? Since burdock root is a natural herbal remedy for particular ailments, dose frequency is not as detrimental as other allopathic medications. If you miss a dose, it’s safe to wait until your dog’s next meal or even wait until the next day to give the dose. But again, burdock root should only be offered if your vet approves it and per their instructions. Potential Side Effects of Burdock Root While side effects from burdock root in canines are rare, you should still familiarize yourself with possible side effects for your dog’s safety. It’s important to monitor your dog while giving burdock root and to consult your vet if you notice any of these rare but possible signs due to adverse reactions: Nausea Vomiting Diarrhea “Burr tongue” or granular stomatitis Image Credit: Iryna Imago, Shutterstock Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) What Other Benefits Does Burdock Root Offer Dogs? Not only does burdock root provide a natural remedy for certain ailments and conditions, but it also has vitamins and minerals that benefit humans that might also be beneficial to your dog’s health, such as vitamins C, E, B5, B6, B9, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, copper, and more. Another interesting fact about Burdock root is that it contains inulin, a probiotic fiber that might benefit a dog’s gut microbiome. Burdock root has also been proposed as a flavor enhancer in doga and cat food, however,  the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) Image Credit: Yossi James, Shutterstock What Health Conditions in Dogs Is Burdock Root Not Advisable For? It’s important to note that burdock root may affect blood sugar levels, making it potentially dangerous, especially for dogs with diabetes. Pregnant or nursing dogs should also not use burdock root. Where Can I Buy Burdock Root for My Dog? After determining if this is the correct treatment for your dog or if they will have any health benefit from it, holistic veterinarians will usually prepare a tincture or might even provide you with the dry root to offer to your pup in the form of an infusion or mixed with their food.  They might also recommend a commercially available product. There are many online stores where you can buy burdock root for your dog. It’s available in liquid tinctures, chewable tablets, and powder form, usually with a combination of other herbs. Please remember that herbal medicine while natural can have dangerous and detrimental effects on your dog’s health if not properly used. We recommend that you do not buy it before consulting it with your veterinarian first to ensure it’s safe for your particular canine. Conclusion Burdock root has been used for different medicinal properties in traditional medicine. In canines, this root has been used as a natural remedy for many ailments, such as arthritis, UTIs, digestion, skin issues, and immune and liver support, among others. The root has also been proposed but not officially accepted as a flavor additive in dog feed, due to the lack of evidence on its safety and efficacy. This root is most commonly found as an ingredient in pet supplements containing multi-herbal blends. However, despite the many potential benefits the root has to offer, we advise you to consult your vet before giving any to your dog. Sources https://www.petmd.com/dog/wellness/evr_multi_herb_n_living https://www.vetinfo.com/herbal-dog-allergy-treatments.html https://www.vetinfo.com/are-there-natural-remedies-for-uti-in-dogs.html https://www.vetinfo.com/alternative-cancer-treatment-for-dogs.html https://www.vetinfo.com/natural-liver-cleanse-for-dogs.html https://www.vetinfo.com/bathing-tips-for-itchy-dog-skin-treatment.html https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34061396/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20981575/ https://www.caninenutritionist.co.uk/natural-herbs-for-dogs/burdock-root-for-dogs/ https://www.healthline.com/health/burdock-root https://health.clevelandclinic.org/burdock-root https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/herb/burdock#:~:text=Burdock%20is%20native%20to%20Europe,to%20clothing%20or%20animal%20fur. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-111/burdock https://www.natural-dog-health-remedies.com/burdock.html https://blog.vetnaturals.com/the-veterinarians-guide-to-dog-supplements-know-what-youre-giving-your-pet/ https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169974/nutrients https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996920309145 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1696073/pdf/canvetj00425-0046.pdf https://www.caninenutritionist.co.uk/natural-herbs-for-dogs/burdock-root-for-dogs/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165242713002778 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10787-010-0062-4?correlationId=b121bc8c-633b-48c3-a8cf-45d75618283a https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165242713002778 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8059735/ https://prf.hn/click/camref:1101l8LeP/pubref:pangovet/destination:https://www.chewy.com/animal-essentials-detox-blend-liver/dp/125400   Featured Image Credit: John_T, Shutterstock The post Burdock Root for Dogs: Vet Reviewed Uses, Potential Benefits & Side Effects appeared first on PangoVet.

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Foreign Affairs Russia’s Redlines The U.S. is playing with fire in Ukraine. Last week’s decision by Russian president Vladimir Putin to launch an intermediate-range ballistic missile against a military complex located in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro (population 937,000) was a response to a prior Ukrainian attack on Russian territory that made use of American-made ATACM and British-made Storm Shadow ballistic missiles. This is but the latest in a series of alarming escalatory moves from both sides of the conflict. Worryingly, the same people who assured us Russia would acquiesce to NATO’s enlargement to its borders are now assuring us that Putin’s repeated threats to resort to nuclear weapons are nothing to worry about. In a televised speech on November 21, Putin warned that, “We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.” Dr. Stephen Starr, who served as the Director of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program at the University of Missouri points out, The U.S. ATACM and UK Storm Shadow missile attacks directed and conducted against Russian territory, have had no prospect of changing the outcome of the Ukraine War. Russia has already won. The U.S., NATO, and their proxy Ukraine have been decisively defeated on the battlefield by a Russian military armed with a host of weapons far superior to anything possessed by the West—all at the terrible expense of the people of Ukraine, who have lost well over a million killed and wounded, with their nation utterly destroyed. All this comes fast on the heels of Russia’s announcement, also made last week, that Russia has amended its nuclear doctrine by lowering its threshold for a nuclear strike. Going forward, Moscow will consider an attack by a non-nuclear country that is supported by nuclear-armed powers as a joint attack.  These pronouncements were greeted with dismay by a gathering of international relations scholars and security experts at the inaugural meeting of the Yerevan Dialogue over the weekend. Founded by the Armenian-American political scientist Arthur Khachikian, the Dialogue hosted a dozen  international affairs and regional security experts from Europe and the United States over the weekend in Armenia. One retired French military official, who asked not to be identified, emphatically noted that, for Putin, “there is a ‘red line’ but we will only discover it once it is too late.” The official’s statement was an eerie echo of Hegel’s warning that “the Owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the coming of the dusk”—in other words, wisdom begins to dawn only when it’s too late. It hardly needs pointing out that wisdom has not been among the defining characteristics of the Biden administration, the titular head of which spent the previous three decades loudly claiming that it was inconceivable that NATO expansion would provoke a Russian response. Better minds and men knew differently. The Cold War historian Hall Gardner of the American University of Paris noted over the weekend that in 1995, Paul Nitze, a Cold Warrior par excellence and Ronald Reagan’s principal arms-control negotiator, submitted an op-ed to the Washington Post in which he warned of the potentially destabilizing effects of NATO expansion.  Nitze’s op-ed, unearthed by Gardner, read, in part: With the vulnerability of Russia’s new democracy, pushing for NATO enlargement will likely exacerbate the existing, destructive internal pressures. A wrong move on our part could easily backfire, triggering the rise to power by Russia’s nationalists, sidetracking START II and possibly unraveling other arms control agreements without which NATO will find itself back in a Cold War environment. It is far better to act on the belief that Russian nationalists are growing in political power and be wrong by curtailing NATO expansion, than it is to risk European instability in the face of a new confrontation with Moscow… Our long term objective should be to promote the engagement not the exclusion of Russia in Europe. But the Post declined to run it. Moving from clear and present to future dangers, security experts I spoke to also expressed grave misgivings about the decision to deploy U.S. long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany beginning in 2026. The first Trump administration’s evisceration of the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (which Nitze helped negotiate) made the deployment possible—after all, the Treaty had heretofore prohibited the deployment of missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers. The upshot of all this is easy enough to discern. The war’s continuation will result in: the further devastation of Ukraine, a hardening of the cold war divide across Europe, and a deepening of the “no limits” partnership between Russia and China. This last will have ramifications for the incoming administration’s expected hardline policy toward Iran. In this context, it is important to note the statement of the Arab Islamic Summit issued on November 11 which warned of the “danger of the escalation sweeping the region and its regional and international consequences.”  In their enthusiasm for a violent confrontation with Russia, a generation of American pundits and policymakers have helped create the conditions for a wider war, one that may soon stretch across Ukraine into the Greater Middle East. It remains a very open question (given the shape of his national security team) how Donald Trump plans to weather the coming storm. The post Russia’s Redlines appeared first on The American Conservative.