Living Green With Jerinda: Kathy Gruver's "The Alternative Medicine Cabinet"

As you’ve realized by now, I am a person who tries to be eco-friendly. We recycle, try not to be wasteful, reuse everything we can, support companies that encourage and advocate for Green practices, buy as much organic and natural as we are able, and we utilize many forms of alternative medicine. We get most of our groceries at our city’s Farmers Market and we frequent our local health food store many times a week. Homeopathy keeps my family healthy and I am always researching more and more ways to be naturally healthy. Therefore, when I was sent a book by Naturopath Kathy Gruver, I was thrilled to read it.

The Alternative Medicine Cabinet is an easy read, but packed with information that everyone should know. From pregnancy, to stress, to cancer, Gruver covers many excellent aspects of naturopathy and homeopathy. I pride myself on being well-educated in this area, but Gruver’s book still taught me several things I did not know before. For instance, I knew that massages are very good for your body and mental health, but I never knew why each type of massage is different and what each one is specialized in. I will definitely be using this guide to massage as I make future appointments.

The book is well written, covers a lot of information without being boring and is very easy to navigate. The table of contents gives a great breakdown and explanation of each chapter, which will make it easy to go back and find certain information without having to re-read the entire book. If you are interested in natural ways to treat your ailments and illnesses, this book would be great for you. Even if you are new to using this form of medicine, this would be a great guide to get you started.

To learn more about the book The Alternative Medicine Cabinet and author Kathy Gruver, visit TheAlternativeMedicineCabinet.com . You can purchase the book right on this website or from book retailers such as, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Overstock.com .

Thank you to Kathy Gruver for sending us a sample copy of this book free of charge to base this review upon.

Review: MedSafe Locking Medicine Cabinet

Even though my children are still young and most likely cannot open medicine bottles with child-proof caps, I still worry about their somehow getting their hands on prescription and over-the-counter drugs. I'm sure I am not the only parent with this concern.

Recently D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) has partnered with MedSafe, whose product is essentially a medication lock-box, to encourage parents to help deter prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse or experimentation at home by simply locking up those medications. For a limited time, the MedSafe will be available for $20 off the retail price. Not only has MedSafe made their product more affordable, they are also donating a percentage of the proceeds to supporting various drug abuse awareness programs and events. Their goal is to help make medications secure from children in 5 million homes by the end of 2010.

What I thought about our MedSafe locking medicine chest:

1) The MedSafe is pretty compact at 9-1/2"h, but it does fit most prescription size medicine bottles plus many over-the-counter bottles. If you buy any of your over-the-counter medicines in bulk, then those bottles would be too large for this cabinet, as the shelves are not adjustable.

2) I like that the locking mechanism is digital with 19,500 possible combinations. After 5 failed attempts at entering the correct code, the safe will be in lockout mode for a total of 5 minutes. Although it is not impossible for a teenager to crack your code, especially if you use numbers that have some sort of meaning to you, it would definitely take a lot of patience and persistence.

3) There is an audible tone that sounds when the code is either entered correctly or incorrectly, so it would be difficult for your child to attempt to open the MedSafe undetected while you are in the house.

4) We chose to hang our MedSafe on the bathroom wall out of the reaches of our children. Although it was not an option for us, the MedSafe can be hung inside your existing medicine cabinet or even laid flat in a dresser drawer. This is a case where "out of sight, out of mind" might work in your favor.

I think that this product will work in deterring a child who is trying to be secretive about gaining access to these medications. If you have a teenager who is willing to be bold and can use enough brute force, then I think the MedSafe might not be able to keep that teenager from accessing its contents.

To learn more about the MedSafe, visit HelpSaveOurKids.com . To purchase the MedSafe, visit MedSafeGlobal.com .

Thank you to MedSafe for providing us with a review product free of charge.