I know first-hand how overwhelming the world of natural, organic, green products can be. Whether you are searching for beauty products without harmful chemicals that do not test on animals, clothing made from organic materials or non leather and other animal materials or the ever overwhelming number of food and drink products free of harmful dyes, preservatives, hormones and other bizarre additives, Eco-Emi is designed to be an informative and fun way to try and buy eco friendly products and take charge of what you put on and into your body once and for all. We have one body and one earth and it is time to jump on the green train and Eco-Emi is here to help get you started.

I have spent many years experimenting with the endless products you see in places like Whole foods, Trader Joe’s, Wild oats, small natural stores and so on. I have been able to sort through the clutter of the good and the bad so that I can send you only what works and what’s worth the splurge.

I created Eco-Emi because I truly believe many people want to live a green life but are so overwhelmed by the products and prices they just give up. I have so many friends ask me to take them shopping or they want me to tell them exactly what to get.

I have heard over and over how people will pick up one or two organic items at the store but once home, they try their new products only to find out they do not like them. It’s very disappointing and aggravating to throw money away and lets face it to live green lives can cost more if you do not know what your doing. Once you clear through the clutter you can shop green without breaking the bank.

Let us show you what is worth spending your hard earned money on! For only $15.00 a month we will mail you a minimum of five samples to your door wrapped in a chic earth friendly packaging. You will have the luxury of trying out the green world in the comfort of your own home.

Before you know it you will be comfortable going to shop green because you will recognize the awesome products you have already tried. No excuses anymore! Make the change and be a green goddess!

Warmest,
Christine

Who is Emi?

Emi, whose full name is actually Emilia, was my dog. It may seem a bit confusing as to why I choose my dogs name and involvement with this but she was my best friend, my child and right before Christmas of 2009, I found out she had a crazy disease that veterinarians knew little about.  My dog, Emi, was jumping, playing, running and acting very normal and then suddenly, out of the blue, was not okay.

After finding out she had Inflammatory Bowel disease, I was told by the doctors that they know next to nothing about this disease except that she needs specific dog food because they believe these dogs become severely allergic to many dog foods and that she will need many, very harmful medicines that will not cure her but will treat her disease like a Band-Aid forever.

My dog had to be rushed to the animal hospital one day, she was in the control of the doctors who ended up putting her on many horrible medications, before telling me, only to find out later that if I rip those medicines away I will instantly kill her but keeping her on them will also kill her. I was told if the disease does not kill her the medicine will.

I was furious that I was not told this before she was put on these terrible medicines or told what to watch out for. Emi lost her muscle, had flare ups of what could be 30 to 50 pounds of fluid in her body at different times. Her feet would swell to the size of tennis balls, her hair would stop growing and these were all side effects of the medicine not the disease. It was heart wrenching for me to see my dog who less then a month earlier was jumping and playing could now barely get up and I promised her I would find the cure.

My mind was made up that I was going to spend whatever I needed to spend and do whatever I needed to do to save her. I researched the Internet head to toe, books, anything I could get my hands on. I studied what was in the products and what was happening to her when I gave her different products. Nothing worked! It was late January to mid February and I knew that she was not going to last much longer. Doctors would not listen to anything I had to say about what I had noticed with her reactions to different products, they truly did not care.

I drove hours to see other doctors. I did everything in my power. Finally, after weeks and weeks of searching, I found a lady named Lew Olsen who had dealt with this disease before with some of her dogs. After e-mailing with her back and forth and studying her sites and blog’s I decided one night to do exactly what she told me to do. Keep in mind the vets told me that the most important thing was to not change or alter Emi’s food in any way or I will for sure kill her, but what I kept trying to tell the vets was that the food was not working-they were convinced it wasn’t the food but her body and the disease that were failing. I was convinced it was the food and the medicines she was put on and that the disease was caused by something and could be cured by something.

So one night, when she was so bad, I thought I was going to loose her. I decided to try and do what Lew had told me to do. She basically said to give my dog REAL FOOD! NO MORE DOG FOOD! No more foods with chemicals and other fillers. She needed protein because her protein was just pouring out of her body. So I did tilapia fish for her protein, a small amount of pumpkin, pureed vegetables,  fat free yogurt and cottage cheese and most importantly some powdered herbs to help her digest the foods, along with some natural probiotics, fish oils to help the inflammation and powdered greens such as wheat grass, seaweeds, etc. Basically it was a combination of products.

That night Emi woke me up at 2 am wanting to play and go outside-keep in mind she could barely stand hours before and I had to almost force feed her this new food.

The days following were nothing short of a miracle. Each day she grew stronger. I took her into the vet a week later to have her blood taken which we had been doing for nearly two months with devastating results only to find everything was nearly perfect! She was, in a matter of days, back to normal and she couldn’t be happier with her new food.

For the next 3-4 months everything was great, she was strong, she was playing, taking her walks and I truly thought we were close to being in the clear. The problem was that she was still on these harmful, poisonous medicines. I never went back to the original doctors who diagnosed her because if I had followed their advice, she would have been dead, plain and simple. I found another vet who agreed to work with me on weaning her off of these medications, a very delicate process.

I wanted to just stop giving them to her right away because I believed they were ruining her body and it didn’t matter if we had found her cure because if you keep mixing poison in the bunch eventually poison will win. It was only a matter of time before I knew her body could not fight these medicines anymore. I had found the cure but now I needed to get her off of the thing that would kill her. We spent 4 months trying to wean her off of the medicine but ultimately in May of 2010 the medicine had just ruined her insides and her body could no longer tolerate it and we lost her.

I was beyond crushed and laid by her on the kitchen floor until she took her last breath. I cried for months and months and had so much anger towards the doctors who I believe ultimately killed my beautiful, months before healthy, young, wonderful Emi. I lost the most important being and had so much anger towards these doctors who would not listen to me and who gave her these poisonous medications.

You do not need to be a doctor to see what is happening to someone you love. When you care for them everyday, every hour and minute you become the doctor and become very adept in that issue you are dealing with. I felt I knew worlds more about the disease and found the cure that would have saved her.

I truly believe she would be at my side right now had she never been put on those cruel medicines or possibly if we had rid her of the medicines sooner. Unfortunately, I had to rely on doctors to work with me to get her off of the medicines because the last thing I wanted was to rip her off of something that would send her body into a shock that would kill her, though I have many days I sometimes wished I had taken the gamble.

The bottom line and something really important I took out of this was that once I gave her real food-healthy food and herbal supplements she was miraculously better for many months straight. It was not coincidence or by chance she was on her deathbed. But natural foods truly did save her and keep her with me much longer and I believe she could have lived another 8 years disease free.

You know when something works and giving her real food seemed so difficult to grasp at the time-in our heads dog food seems so logical but when you really think about it it’s so crazy to give this to your dog. Dogs need real food-humans would be miserable and lose so much nutrition if we ate the way a dog does. Some dogs simply cannot tolerate dog food and mine became allergic and sick with what I was giving her every day.

I already lived a fairly green life but after going through this I made even more drastic changes and decided to only buy organic-natural-eco friendly products. What you put on and in your body and what you expose yourself to does have an effect on you. In time it will catch up to you and unfortunately that will be the time you wished you had been making better choices for yourself.

Eco-Emi is here to help you make those choices now and stop putting things off because you don’t know where to start. The number one question I was always asked by friends and family was “Can I go shopping with you so I only buy the stuff that works and taste good!” I can’t bring my beautiful girl back but I can keep her memory alive in the form of a business that can help others.

If you have questions about Inflammatory bowel disease or Lew Olsen-I will be putting a page together talking about everything I learned in depth and then have links to Lew’s website-blogs, book and contact information.