Category: Health and Fitness

Survival of the Fittest by Mike Hussle

When it comes to preparedness for disasters, people can be very imaginative. Thinking through every possible scenario, difficulty or danger helps them in choices such as, “what type of firearm is the most practical?” “What medicines is it a good idea to have on hand?” Or, “where is a good place to go if it is no longer safe where I live?” These questions are all sound, practical thoughts for anyone who wants to be prudently prepared for emergencies. One factor, however, largely gets neglected, if not ignored. Perhaps that is because you can’t simply purchase this most central and …


Two Letters Re: Dealing with Uninvited Guests

Dear Mr. Rawles I would like to add one last letter in response to “Uninvited Guests” and to let your readers know that the only effective means to control head lice is by “mechanical” removal. We were unfortunate to live, for a time, in an area of the country where head lice had become resistant to the OTC treatments. This is because most people did not realize that in addition to the application of something such as Rid, one must also clean one’s living quarters, as well as systematically go through the lice sufferer’s hair—strand, by strand, by strand…. Now …


Letter Re: Any Widespread Flu Will Overwhelm America’s Emergency Medical Services

Dear Mr. Rawles, As an avid SurvivalBlog reader since ’05, I’ve got to say, the quality of your blog continues to go up and up. Just when I think I can’t possibly absorb anything more, new posts appear that make me think, plan, and act. Upon your blog’s advice, I have begun taking an EMT class at a local college to expand my medical knowledge base. What the Paramedic teacher said today in class gave me the chills. We were discussing all manner of diseases and then he touched on H1N1, the Swine Flu and its possible affects upon the …


Health, Hygiene, Fitness and Medical Care in a Coming Collapse, by RangerDoc

Spiritual Fitness Let us start this discussion by confronting a stark fact of life: very few of us, living the life of North American citizens, are fit to survive for a generation in an austere, off the grid, world. First of all, few of us have the philosophical orientation to be survivors. I know in my bones that without God’s help, my family’s ability to survive in a prolonged state of austerity is worse than questionable. As an evangelical Christian, I understand that my own commitment to preparedness is a function of my ongoing submission to God’s will. It could …


Six Letters Re: Adapting Family Food Storage for Gluten Intolerance

James, I found out last year I am gluten intolerant, and my little girl was symptomatic with me. In our case, we found we can’t tolerate any grains–not even corn or rice. Below are some ideas for those with either condition or who are on lower-carbohydrate diets for health reasons. * In addition to beans, other carbohydrate-rich foods that you can store include potatoes, yams, peas, beets and tapioca. To avoid the additives found in some dehydrated foods, I have freeze-dried potatoes, yams, and peas. I also have some home-canned yams and plan to grow more. Beets are only available …


Letter Re: Adapting Family Food Storage for Gluten Intolerance

Hi Jim, I wonder how many other preppers out there have the same issue we just discovered. My wife has always had trouble with her digestive tract. Recently we discovered that she is has Coeliac’s disease which means she is gluten intolerant. She can no longer eat gluten which it seems is in just about every type of prepared food. It comes from Wheat and is obviously in anything that has wheat in it, but it is also in lots of other things including vitamins, tomato paste, some candies, etc. It has been quite an adjustment for us! This makes …


The Mexican Flu and You

In the past 24 hours I’ve received dozens of e-mails from SurvivalBlog readers about the emerging Mexican Flu. Some news stories have included cryptic comments from heath officials, implying that the mechanism of infection makes this particular virus “very difficult to contain.” This leads me to conclude that those infected have a long latency period during which they are infectious, yet, they do not display frank symptoms. This does not bode well for any hopes of containing the spread of the virus. Then we hear a CDC official stating: “The swine flu virus contains four different gene segments representing both …


TEOTWAWKI Medicine and Minor Surgery–Part II: Skin Infections, by Dr. K.

Introduction The skin has three layers. 1. The epidermis is the outermost layer. It protects our bodies from the environment and has pigment cells. 2. The dermis is the middle layer, and it contains hair follicles, sweat glands, oil glands, and capillaries. 3. The hypodermis (or subcutaneous layer) is the inner layer, and it contains layers of fat that provides cushion and insulation for our body… some more than others. Any of these layers can become infected, in whole or in part. In a TEOTWAWKI scenario, that minor scratch could lead to a painful death. Knowledge is vitally important. Understanding …


Walk!, by Snolden

If you value your existence and your life, then walk! I am an Air Force brat who did nine years active duty in the Navy. In other words I moved a lot. Eleven states in the first 33 years of my life. I traveled to all fifty states and a few countries. Every one is different, and areas within each are completely different from the part that you live in. Most people that lived in places I have been do not walk any further than a few hundred yards a day. A mile is a “long walk” for most folks. …


Emotional Stressors During Societal Collapse by Campcritter

As determined men and women of yesteryear made their way west to make for a better life, pioneer women often kept journals of their life on the great prairies or sent letters home to their sisters back East. In those letters they described the silence as the most unwelcome guest. These brave women wrote about being left for weeks on end alone, lost in an endless sea of grass with only the wind for company while the men hunted or went for supplies. In some cases the quiet was so severe that it became unbearable and the women developed mental …


Life’s Lessons and the Foundations of Preparedness, by A.B.

We may soon depend on all of what we have learned over the years. Putting all of the threads of knowledge together into a tapestry of self-sufficiency, and survival capabilities, is part of the lifelong quest for our family’s security. We learn from many sources and experiences such as: family, church, friends, teachers, teammates, co-workers, reading books and SurvivalBlog, and hopefully from our mistakes. Preparedness Skills from our Grandmas and Grandpas The foundation for preparedness begins with my childhood in Michigan. We lived in Lansing where my great-grandmother was next door and my grandmother lived next door to her. My …


Letter Re: The Value of Sprouting

Mr. Rawles, In addition to seeds for a garden, anyone can produce fresh healthy and extremely nutritious sprouts on a kitchen counter with nothing more than a couple of plastic ice-cream containers. They can provide a real respite from canned veggies while you’re waiting for the crops to mature and year-round fresh greens. I sprout the common mung beans (think Chinese cooking) but I also do lentils, various peas and beans and (if I could get it) I would do alfalfa and clover. You can also make a respectable salad in your kitchen with a tray of mesclun seeds, grown …


Herbal Cures at Your Doorstep, by Organic Cathy

“Health care” in America – while having “evolved” – leaves much to be desired i.e. cost, effectiveness, government restrictions of natural medicines, deaths caused form “modern” medicine, control and pharmaceutical greed to name just a few. in the blaring light of reality of today’s coming collapse even simple health care will be challenging to say the lease. While I am not formally trained in herbal medicine, I do have some medical background and twenty plus years of growing and using herbs and more recently delving into wild herbs. TEOTWAWKI will change the availability of “home health care” from government regulated …


Did the American Indians Have it Right?, by MMJ

In these trying times when civilizations are at the brink of disaster and many people are already in personal collapse, we should look back through history to find out how to salvage what we have and how to survive what is to come. [Minor rant snipped.] It seems that economic collapse is imminent and that at some point in the near future it is going to be every man for himself. As we watch countries collapse, global economies fail and people across the world starve and die, I ask myself has any culture or civilization in history gotten it right? …


Perspectives on Prepping on a Very Low Income, by Kuraly

I was raised in a missionary family, on nine different mission fields around the world. At the age of nineteen, I went out to serve the Lord on my own in the former Soviet Union. I had no formal Theological training, but was accepted by the missionary societies of my denomination because of my experience under my father and my willingness to go to dangerous areas. I married, and my wife and I have now six children. A few years ago, due to some changes in my theology, I fell out of favor with my denomination and had to return …