Tick Bite Prevention: Natural & Effective Ways to Avoid Tick-Borne Illness
Ticks aren’t just a nuisance—they can carry dangerous bacteria, parasites, and infections that impact long-term health.
I learned this the hard way after watching my own daughter suffer following a tick bite. Looking back, there are so many things I wish I had known in those early moments.
This guide is designed to help you naturally prevent tick bites, reduce your risk, and feel prepared—especially as a parent.
Why Tick Bite Prevention Matters
Tick-borne illnesses (like Lyme disease and co-infections) can affect:
Immune function
Energy levels
Neurological health
Hormonal balance
The key? Prevention is far easier than treatment.
Best Tick Bite Prevention Methods (Natural + Practical)
1. Permethrin for Gear (Not Skin)
If you’re spending time in tick-prone areas, this is one of the most effective protective tools.
Use permethrin spray on:
Stroller wheels
Hiking boots
Tents
Outdoor gear
Important:
Never apply directly to skin
Always spray outdoors
Let items fully dry before use
👉 Personal note: The only tick my baby boy ever got came from sitting in his stroller. Treating stroller tires ahead of time would have likely prevented it.
2.Optimize Your B Vitamin Levels
This is one of the most overlooked prevention strategies.
Healthy levels of certain B vitamins may make your body less attractive to ticks.
Focus on:
B1 (Thiamine)
B6
B12
For best results:
Supplement based on your individual needs
3. The Duct Tape Trick (Surprisingly Effective)
This is a simple, low-cost hack that works especially well for kids.
How to do it:
Tuck pants into socks
Wrap duct tape around ankles with sticky side facing outward
Ticks crawl upward—this stops them before they reach exposed skin.
4. Sulfur Powder (Old-School but Powerful)
Sulfur has been used for decades to repel ticks and chiggers.
How to use:
Fill a sock with sulfur powder
Tie it closed
Lightly dust:
Shoes
Socks
Clothing
It can also be applied to skin (sparingly), but:
⚠️ It has a strong smell—so it’s not for everyone.
5. Use a Natural Tick Repellent Spray
Look for DEET-free, essential oil-based sprays for safer daily use.
Effective ingredients include:
Cedarwood oil
Lemon eucalyptus
Geranium
These are great for:
Skin
Clothing
Kids (depending on formulation)
6. Drink Cistus Tea Daily
This is a lesser-known but powerful internal strategy. Cistus tea may help make your body less attractive to ticks and other parasites.
Benefits include:
Supports immune defense
May reduce “host attractiveness”
Rich in polyphenols
What to Do After a Tick Bite (Step-by-Step Guide)
Even with the best prevention, tick bites can still happen. Acting quickly and correctly can significantly reduce the risk of infection.
Here’s exactly what to do if you or your child gets bitten by a tick.
Step 1: Remove the Tick Properly
Proper removal is critical to reducing the risk of disease transmission.
Use tick tweezers or a tick removal tool and:
Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible (near the head)
Apply slow, steady pressure
Gently pull upward—do not twist or yank
Why This Matters
Ticks attach using a glue-like substance. If you pull too quickly:
The head can detach and remain in the skin
The tick may regurgitate its stomach contents
This can increase the risk of infection
Allowing the tick a few seconds to release naturally helps minimize these risks.
Step 2: Save the Tick for Testing
After removal, place the tick in a sealed plastic bag.
Why this matters:
Testing the tick is often faster, easier, and more affordable than testing the human body later
It can give you early insight into potential exposure
You can use services like TickReport to test for pathogens.
Step 3: Start Internal Support Early
Supporting the body immediately after a bite can be an important part of your response plan.
Homeopathic Protocol Example
Ledum palustre 200C:
Day 1: Every 3 hours
Days 2–7: 2x daily
Days 8–30: 2x per week
Days 31–60: 1x per week
This is commonly used in homeopathic approaches for tick bites, puncture wounds, and insect bites.
Step 4: Apply a Drawing Paste to the Bite
Topical support can help the skin recover and may assist in pulling irritants from the area.
DIY Drawing Paste
Mix:
Bentonite clay
Andrographis powder
Apply directly over the bite and cover with a bandage.
Benefits:
Bentonite clay: Known for its binding/drawing properties
Andrographis: Traditionally used for its antimicrobial support
How to use:
Apply 1–2 times daily
Continue for up to 5–7 days
Tick Bite Symptoms to Watch For
After a bite, monitor for early signs of a reaction or infection:
Red expanding rash (bullseye or otherwise)
Fatigue or flu-like symptoms
Fever or chills
Joint or muscle pain
Headaches
If symptoms develop, consider working with a qualified practitioner for further evaluation.
Tick Bite Kit: What to Keep on Hand
Being prepared makes all the difference—especially with kids. Here’s what I always keep in my home and travel kit:
Tick tweezers or removal tool
Bentonite clay
Andrographis
Ledum (and Apis) homeopathy
Bandages
Having these ready means you can act quickly and confidently instead of scrambling in the moment.
Final Thoughts: Preparation = Peace of Mind
Tick bites can feel overwhelming—but having a plan in place changes everything.
Between:
Prevention strategies
Proper removal techniques
Immediate post-bite support
…you can dramatically reduce risk and feel more in control.
If you want my full list of tick prevention tools, post-bite itch support, yard treatments, tick testing site and health-supportive products, I’ve linked everything on my ShopMy page.
What do you always keep in your tick bite kit?
Drop your go-to tools and remedies in the comments—I’m always looking to learn from what’s working in your home too.
Why Molecular Hydrogen is the Ultimate Antioxidant
Molecular Hydrogen (also known as H₂) has been getting a lot of attention lately- and for good reason!
It is the worlds smallest antioxidant (which means it can get into the cells, into mitochondria & pass the blood brain barrier) & there are now thousands of scientific studies showing that it has benefits in many disease models. You can see those studies for yourself at the Molecular Hydrogen Institute & I’ve also linked many of them on my Science Page.
What are Antioxidants?
Antioxidants are important for our health as they combat free radicals in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules that attack healthy atoms, steal their electrons, & cause damage within our bodies. Damage caused by free radicals is known as oxidative stress, being the leading cause of disease.
Antioxidants (like H₂) help prevent oxidative stress and keep you healthy. Electrolyzed-reduced-water is full of H₂ & is exactly why it’s the only water my family drinks.
When it comes to antioxidants, there are many sizes & types. I’m sure you’ve heard of common supplemental antioxidants like Vitamin C, Glutathione, Vitamin E, etc. These are all great & necessary to the body but they all do different things & have limited effectiveness for a couple of reasons.
1) They can only protect against some Free Radicals but not others, meaning many different types of Antioxidants are needed for the wide variety of Free Radicals.
2) They cannot distinguish between necessary & harmful Free Radicals. Some Free Radicals are beneficial to our cells, such as hydrogen peroxide.
Molecular Hydrogen solves both problems. H₂ selectively targets only the toxic oxygen radicals, and also neutralizes every type of harmful Free Radical in our cells. For instance, H₂ selectively neutralizes the most harmful Free Radical, hydroxyl (OH), by turning it into water. H₂ protects the cell’s DNA, RNA, protein, lipids & more from Oxidative Stress better than any other antioxidant.
You can see the different sizes of antioxidants below compared to molecular hydrogen.
What areas of the body does H₂ benefit?
If you flip through the gallery below, you’ll see that it has positive impacts on every part of the body. I’ve highlighted the areas of skin health, muscles, blood vessels, detoxification support & how it is anti-aging. Again, if you’d like to read through the thousands of pubmed articles on the subject you can click the links in the first paragraph of this blood or search “electrolyzed reduced water” on pubmed.
How To get access to H₂ in your home
The easiest way to consume this antioxidant is by drinking it in your water. We use the Kangen machine to make sure we ingest it every hour of every day. H₂ evaporates over a couple of days time, so having a source that makes it fresh will give you the best benefits over time. It easily hooks up to the faucet & is simple to operate!
Not only does it create Molecular Hydrogen water, it also creates Hypochlorous Acid, Beauty Water, Neutral water & High Alkaline Water. You can see the many uses for those in this blog post.
By having this machine, we save over $2,000/year because we are no longer buying cleaning supplies, first aide products, fruit & veggie wash & more.
If you want more information you can read more about the machine & it’s uses HERE.
If you are ready for your own machine in your home, click the button below to check out the financing options.
Blood Sugar Balancing Pumpkin Pie
In our house, pumpkin pie is not just reserved for Thanksgiving time dessert.
It’s a year-round staple in our breakfast routine!
My personal cooking style is the easier, the quicker, the better. I don’t like to mess around with complicated recipes. This is one of the most easiest recipes that can be used for a healthy dessert, a snack or as a breakfast side dish.
I personally made these in advance for my postpartum season with my last baby. The higher level of protein is very nourishing for a new mother & is a hit with my other children as well.
I’ve also tested these pies with my continuous glucose monitor & they proved to be very blood sugar balancing…even my dietician in the CGM chat asked for the recipe because she couldn’t believe a piece of pumpkin pie gave me such great results over time. I added a screenshot of my glucose results to this blog post for you to see how it kept my levels very stable.
(If you’ve never used a continuous glucose monitor, I highly recommend every single person try one out at least once in their life. The data is invaluable to learn about how food affects your biology. It’s especially important if you think you may have hormone imbalances of any kind, since cortisol & steroidal hormones like progesterone, testosterone & estrogen are intricately linked to how your blood sugar is managed.)
I made this recipe into a simple printable that you can download HERE.
Here are a couple of my favorite ingredients if you don’t already have them on hand…
MCT Oil - this ingredient is known to boost energy levels, regulate appetite & weight loss, protect the brain from neurodegeneration, support mitochondrial function & so much more. A great pantry staple for cooking or adding to coffee!
Collagelatin- this is the brand of gelatin we have in our kitchen. This supports joints, skin, metabolism & inflammation control.
I also use this to make my kids healthy gummy bears (just bloom a few scoops with your favorite juice & melt on the stove just like the pie above!)
Let me know how you like it in the comments below
Apollo Neuro For Less Stress
I’ve had my Apollo Neuro for over a year now & can definitley say it’s one of my favorite tools to help me stay calm, recover quickly after flights/travel & keep my heart rate down. It’s a simple bracelet that vibrates at different levels to communicate with your nervous system. After using it for a year & tracking my stats on my Oura Ring- it 100% improves my health scores.
Is Apollo Neuro the Most Scientifically Backed Wearable for Stress, Sleep & Performance?
The wellness wearable market is flooded with trackers like Fitbit, Oura Ring, Whoop, and Muse—all promising improvements in sleep, recovery, or focus. But how many actually do more than track? Enter Apollo Neuro: a wearable designed not just to monitor your body, but to actively shift it from stress to calm using gentle vibrations. With 7 completed clinical studies and another 14 underway, it stands apart in a sea of passive gadgets.
How Apollo Neuro Works—Backed by Science
Rather than sensing your state, Apollo intervenes directly through vibrotactile stimulation—low-frequency, inaudible pulses engineered to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (your “rest and digest” mode). This promotes balance in your autonomic nervous system, helping reduce stress and improve recovery (health.harvard.edu, prnewswire.com, arxiv.org).
Key physiological impacts:
Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Trojan indicator of stress resilience. Apollo users experience an 11–25% increase in HRV within minutes—confirmed in a double-blind, placebo‑controlled, crossover trial using gold-standard ECG readings (apolloneuro.com).
Real-world sleep improvements: A UPMC/Oura Ring study with 582 users showed up to 30 min more total sleep, 19% more deep sleep, and improved REM—all correlated with automated Apollo use (apolloneuro.com).
Athlete recovery: In 22 collegiate athletes, Apollo enhanced HRV and accelerated recovery post-exercise in a university lab study (apolloneuro.com).
What the 7+ Clinical Trials Reveal
Here’s a breakdown of Apollo’s completed studies (apolloneuro.com):
Pitt Club & Varsity Athlete Trial (n=22): Double-blind, placebo-controlled; HRV rose significantly post-exercise.
Healthy Adults Under Stress (n=38): Double-blind crossover showed 10% higher HRV, 25% better cognitive performance under pressure.
Open‑Label Meditation Study (n=50): Users reached meditative states 50% faster.
Remote Sleep Observational (n=582): Increased deep & REM sleep, total TST.
Prospective Sleep Intervention (n=300): Study complete; results pending peer review.
PTSD in Veterans (n=65): Statistically meaningful symptom improvement.
Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) Patients (n=25): Four‑week use improved fatigue, Raynaud’s, QoL, mood (apolloneuro.com).
Apollo vs. Passive Trackers: Who Wins?
Apollo doesn’t just tell you what your body’s doing—it influences it, often within minutes. And the science isn’t anecdotal—it’s backed by rigorous trials, including placebo-controlled and athlete-based research.
Strengths & Limitations: An Honest Assessment
Strengths:
Clinically validated HRV boost
Objective sleep improvements
Measurable athlete recovery
Multiple populations studied (stress, PTSD, SSc)
My Experience: Real Results vs. The Hype
Having tested Apollo over a month with 3+ hours daily use:
Stress & focus: I felt calmer during peak work stress and clearer after sessions.
Sleep quality: Logged a consistent ~30 minutes more total sleep and a deeper overnight rest.
Calibration: Initially, the vibes felt distracting—but quickly became oddly comforting and routine.
Final Take: Who Should Use Apollo?
✅ If you’re done with trackers that just “tell you”—and want active, immediate stress relief and measurable gains in HRV and sleep, Apollo is unique in the wearable space.
⚠️ If you're skeptical of self-published results or prefer fully peer-reviewed pharmacological trials, be aware many studies are still pending publication.
Bottom line: Apollo Neuro stands alone in combining scientifically validated, active intervention through touch therapy with wearable convenience. It doesn’t just tell you you're stressed—it helps you feel and fix it. For those serious about stress resilience and sleep quality—and tired of passive tracking—Apollo is worth a close look.
Holiday Gift Guide for the Holistic Family
If you are searching for the perfect gift for mom, dad or your kids this holiday season, these are some of my favorite gift ideas for holistic-minded family members.
Gifts For Mom
1. Therasage Infrared Sauna: Great for every age in your home, this multi-use sauna, red light therapy & grounding tool is super for supporting natural detoxification & lymphatic support. A must have for every household! Use code LEAHB20 during sales for a discount!
2. Glass Tupperware: Ok, ok… Tupperware might not be the sexiest gift our there, but going plastic free for food storage will do a lot for supporting your hormones. Plus is helps make your food taste better!
3. Beeswax Candles: All the ambiance of a candle but without the toxins! They use essential oils & air purifying beeswax to provide a gentle scent to your home.
4. Magnesium Bath Salts: Great for throwing in a bathtub or in a big bowl of hot water for a foot soak. These are much better than traditional epson salts as those can cause some reactions in people who are sensitive to sulfates.
5. Sleep Mask: The better sleep Mama gets, the happier & healthier she will be tomorrow. This is my favorite sleep mask for making sure all lights are shut out for optimal rest!
6. Female Formulations Prenatal: Even if you are not pregnant & do not plan on being pregnant, a good multivitamin is essential to health. This is my absolute favorite that many of my clients have used with great success.
7. Acne Safe Skincare: Each product from this company is a game-changer! I personally love the shampoo, conditioner, hydraberry mask & bright eyes serum. Makes you feel like you’re being pampered without the price tag of a facial!
For Kids
1.Merrell Bare Steps H20 Sneaker Shoe: We have purchased these shoes in literally every size since our kids were old enough to walk. They have a wide toe box & are very flexible to support your children’s natural foot movement & developmental patterns.
2. Zollipops: A healthy mouth alternative to tradtitional lollipops. Zollipops actually help to alkalize the mouth, which is really important for preventing cavities. Great to use after a meal & before brushing teeth!
3. Trampoline & Swing Combo: My kids got SO much joy & years of play out of this thing! It’s both a trampoline & has a removeable swing so they can safely play with both.
4. MagnaTiles: A classic toy for screen free play. These are a daily staple in our own home & can be used to build an unlimited amount of things. Supports lots of healthy imagination time.
5. Play Couch: Another great multi-use, imaginative play toy. Great for active children & provides hours of stimulation.
6. Watercolor Paints: Great for all ages to stimulate their creative side. I love that this set has fillable brushes- so no need for spilling a cup of water on the table. Also great for on the go!
7. Wooden Train Set: Great imaginative play toy for the younger ones & all made of wood.
For Dads
Wool Slippers: My own husband wears these every day & is obsessed with how comfortable they are. Because they are wool, they don’t get too hot & are actually thermal regulating and can be worn in the summer!
Organic Cotton Boxers: A staple in every mans wardrobe. These pesticide free underwear ensure the most delicate areas stay healthy for optimal testosterone production.
Beef Protein Powder: Super useful for keeping muscle strength up, metabolism support & hormone levels healthy.
Steve Rinella Hunting Books: When it comes to inspiring your man to provide for your family, this is a go-to. We have several of Steve’s books on our bookshelf.
Yeti Cooler Backpack: Great for hikes with the kids, a camping weekend & life on the go. Will keep all his drinks & snacks cool & inspire some spontaneous adventures!
Nugget Ice Maker: A staple for summertime when they’re outside all day. My husband uses this in his electrolyte drink mixes.
Pickleball Drink Mix: This is the electrolyte drink mix I mentioned in #6. My husband drinks these daily & especially love the pre-packaged, on-the-go-option for throwing in his pocket so he can make a drink in the garage later.
Would love to hear some of your “holistically minded” gifts you’re giving this year! I also really love local, handmade items as well. If you can find some goodies around your hometown & support local artisans & makers- that is always my favorite way to go.