Today is National Bicarbonate of Soda Day! AKA(Baking Soda)
Just a spoonful of sodium bicarbonate has so many benefits, it is used in de-odorizing, cleaning, baking, cooking, polishing to name a few.
This extraordinary naturally occurring substance provides health benefits too!
It neutralizes the pH of the more acidic molecules creating a more neutral balance.
The ability to neutralize odors is one of baking soda’s most powerful properties.
Uses for your Mouth
Use it in mouthwash, toothpaste, to neutralize acids in your mouth and removes stain on your teeth. It helps to keeps your mouth healthy.
Teeth whitener
Use baking soda to naturally whiten your teeth, Spread the mixture onto your teeth and leave on for five minutes. Add you favorite Essential oil orange is a popular whitening oil when mixed with baking soda. Then brush your teeth and rinse.
This method should be used no more than once a week, as excessive use could potentially damage your tooth enamel.
Baking soda also has antibacterial activity and has been found to kill Streptococcus mutans – one of the bacteria that contributes to tooth decay.
For an incredibly effective tooth and gum paste, use a mixture of six parts of baking soda to one part of sea salt. Add 5 drops of essential oil for flavor.
A half-teaspoon of baking soda mixed in a glass of water can also freshen your breath and neutralize stomach acid calming indigestion.
Don’t take baking soda within 2 hours of taking medication. When the baking soda lowers stomach acid, it can slow the rate at which your body absorbs some medicines and change the way others work. Don’t give it to a child under.
Use for personal hygiene Natural Deodorant
Baking soda takes care of smells from feet, underarms, pets and food, too.
When you use baking soda to change the pH balance, the odors in your fridge or your carpet come into a neutral state. Try it for yourself. We put an open box of baking soda in our fridge. Sprinkle it over the garbage in our trash can and it in the bottom of our dishwasher.
Use to treat insects bites and stings.
You can make your own paste of one part baking soda to three parts water, it can reduce redness aching and stinging
It may even help prevent powdery mildew or some fungal diseases on plants. It may not always be effective, but it doesn’t harm plants if mixed appropriately.
Household Cleaner
Baking soda is a natural carpet cleaner. Sprinkle it onto carpets, let it sit for 15 minutes, then vacuum it up. I use this one once a month.
Baking soda is great to use in your kitchen and bath. Put it in a glass container with a stainless steel top that has holes in it, and just sprinkle the baking soda on the surfaces and scrub. You may add a few drops of your favorite essential oil. Lemon, Lavender and Tea tree oil have anti-bacterial qualities.
Baking soda mixed with apple cider vinegar as a drain cleaner, sprinkle baking soda down the drain, then add apple cider vinegar and let it bubble for 15 minutes, then rinse with hot water. This is a safer alternative to chemical drain cleaners.
Sunburn Remedy
You can add a mixture of baking soda and water to a cool compress and apply it to the sunburn directly.
Add ½ cup of baking soda to lukewarm bathwater, then soak in the tub for natural relief. When you get out, let your skin air dry, rather than drying off the excess baking soda, for added relief.
Fun facts about baking soda
- Drinkable carbonated water was first produced in 1767 by J.B. Priestley.
- Jacob Schweppes began producing carbonated water commercially in 1783.
- The first soda pop was marketed in the U.S. in 1807.
- In 1846 Dr. Austin Church and John Dwight began to manufacture and sell the compound we know as baking soda today.
- Carbonation results from releasing pressurized carbon dioxide in liquids.
- In 1986 baking soda was used to clean and restore the inner copper walls of the Statute of Liberty
There are so many uses for baking soda we used it all the time when I was a kid. After writing this I may start using it more again it is a less expensive more natural alternative to chemical cleaners.
Happy Baking soda day!
What are you favorite uses for baking soda?