Just recently, for close to four weeks I eliminated all sugar and gluten (grains, flour, etc) from my diet. My cravings were minimal and I enjoyed feeling my system regain balance. I was also able to recognize something I hadn’t before, at least on this level.

I already mentioned that I really didn’t struggle too much with cravings.  Sure, here and there I would want something that would take a bit of self-control and willpower to say no to, but for the most part it went pretty smoothly.

Until one evening.

Some stresses had been building up for the past few days, and on this particular evening I was feeling discouraged and very frustrated.  And suddenly, I was craving chocolate.  Ice cream.  Wine.  You name it, I wanted it.

I managed to not succumb to the temptations that were threatening, but it dawned on me how much food can be a crutch.  Or something we use to comfort ourselves. Or reward ourselves.  Or numb ourselves.  We feel a bit stressed or put under pressure, and it’s just knee-jerk to use food or drink for consolation.

I don’t think most of us are concerned about this.  So what, right?  Except when we turn to cookies, we probably aren’t turning to God who would love to have us bring our struggles to him in prayer.  We probably aren’t even turning to friends, which is also what God has provided for comfort, encouragement and counsel.

What’s worse is we end up subconsciously teaching our children this habit.  Lose a game?  Let’s all go out for ice cream.  Celebrating a birthday?  Let’s binge on fluorescent cake and chemicals labeled as candy.  Get all A’s?  Let’s splurge on sugary junk.

Our children get the message loud and clear.  Food, particularly the completely non-nourishing, disease-causing kind, is the perfect reward, comforter, and joy.

What if food was just food?  What if, when I did want to indulge, I based my choices on thoughtful consideration instead of ingrained habit?  What if I only enjoyed a piece of chocolate or a glass of wine when I simply wanted to revel in it’s taste?  What if I celebrated birthdays with fresh strawberries and real whipped cream?  What if a treat could be one hearty homemade cookie?

This has been a long, gradual change in our home, one that I often let slip and (even more frustrating) one that is constantly undermined by our culture’s mindless traditions and foolish patterns.   I’m trying hard to instill in my children a different way of viewing food.

But first I have to view it differently myself.

Tags: health, meals, parenting, presuppositions, worldview

There’s a lot of hubbub surrounding the Tylenol recalls. Parents are wondering what on earth to do for their child’s pain or fever.

There are several alternatives out there that work even better than drugs.  I have been using them for years.  In fact, I haven’t purchased or used children’s Tylenol or Motrin for over 8 years.

First of all, parents need to understand that fevers are not a bad thing.  Allowing your child to run a temperature is allowing their body to do it’s job.  Yes, your child is uncomfortable.  Yes, they will be more irritable.  But giving them a false sense of temporary wellness by lowering their temperature so they end up being more active than they should isn’t doing your child any favors in the long run, and could actually be slowing their healing.

The biggest danger during fevers is dehydration, so it’s best to set a timer and have your child take regular small drinks.  Watch them closely to be sure their fever doesn’t rise above a safe level.

To help make my children more comfortable while a fever is running it’s course, I use essential oils.  Peppermint on the feet is very soothing, and will often lower their temperature a little.  It does need to be applied every hour or so.  Just one drop on each foot, diluted with a mixing oil is plenty.

I also use oils that boost their body’s immune system.  My favorite is a blend called Thieves.  I also apply it on their feet, as well as rub it along their spine.  It is also helpful to add a drop to their bath, along with Epsom salts.

In addition to oils, I often turn to homeopathy.  It’s amazing how effective homeopathy is for fevers.  If you are not familiar with using homeopathy, finding the correct remedy can be confusing.  There are several good books out there that make the decision easier (like this, or this, or this)   but you would need a fair-sized collection of remedies.  Hyland’s household kit is what I use.

Hyland’s also takes the guesswork out of homeopathy by offering blends.  On their children’s page, you can find remedies for several problems like earaches, colds, and teething.

Of course, to support your child’s natural healing abilities, please make sure their daily food choices are healthy ones.  It’s just common sense that your children need lots of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and good fats to remain healthy.  Supplement their diet with Vitamin D, especially in the winter season.  We use fish oil.

I also suggest removing dairy from their diet, if what is offered is the pasteurized and homogenized crap at the store.  Contrary to the commercials, it is a terrible source of calcium and does absolutely nothing to improve bone health.  You’re actually feeding them a non-food that is completely void of nutrition and encourages allergies and excessive mucus.

Limit their sugar intake.  There is sugar in everything, including lunch meat, ketchup and crackers.  So NO, they don’t need juice or candy or packaged cookies to add to the heaping tablespoons they’re already eating in their regular food.

Read labels.  Not the nutrition information, although that is somewhat helpful.  Read the ingredients. If you can’t pronounce them, or recognize what they are, do a Google search.

And… that’s a clue that you probably shouldn’t feed it to your kid.

Tags: children, health, medicine, raw milk

I watched a video last week, where Jamie Oliver reveals how elementary school children cannot identify vegetables. Notice their exclamation of horror when he first reveals the pile of fresh produce. Amazing.

It’s all part of his Food Revolution, his passion to revolutionize the way we think about food, particularly in regards to children’s diets. You can view the entire movie, Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food.

His main point was that while the home used to be the place where we learned about food, what is good and how to prepare it, we are now a culture in which people are consistently eating foods that are killing them and their children, and supposedly we have no idea how to stop that.

He proposed things like schools teaching children about fresh fruits and vegetables, changing school lunch menus, and placing a food ambassador in grocery stores.  From corporations to government, he recommended changes in the way we choose and prepare our food.

I admire his passion.  I don’t agree with his assumption that we’re idiots.

And then I read an article in the New York Times titles, U.S. Children: Generation Snack.

It states “we are raising a generation of snackers - kids who eat almost constantly throughout the day as they graze on cookies, salty snacks and fruit drinks.”

They found numbers that suggest “snacking has eroded meal time and that children are taking in slightly fewer calories during breakfast, lunch and dinner, when more healthful foods are typically served, because of their intense snacking habits.”

Oh, it’d be one thing if children were snacking on good foods.  Children are natural grazers, in fact.  But, no.  The article goes on to state, “Desserts like cookies and cakes remain the main source of snacking. Salty snacks like chips and pretzels have posted the biggest gains and are the second largest snack category. Candy and fruit drinks are also popular. One notable trend is that in the past few decades, fruit drinks have replaced whole fruit as a snack.”

Okay, maybe we are idiots.

I mean, how stupid does one have to be to eat frozen corn dogs and Little Debbies every day and then act surprised that they’re obese and diabetic? How ignorant are we that we feed our children sugary junk constantly, while still expecting their school performance to rise?

(Meanwhile, we take away their recess, and even if they do go outside, tell them they can’t run on a playground.)

I don’t know if more education is the answer though, at least in what I can only assume the education will be like.  The typical nutritionist in the U.S. still advises a low-fat, high-grain diet for children.  Sigh.

It just doesn’t seem like rocket science to me that children need whole foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains), healthy fats and oils (real butter, raw whole milk, cheese, coconut and olive oil), seeds and nuts, and meat.  Salt should be real and unprocessed sea salt.

The Weston A. Price foundation has the best diet information that I know of.  Here’s a ton of articles specifically for children.

If you have no idea where to begin, Jamie Oliver’s own Ministry of Food isn’t half bad, either.

Another mom’s story of her family’s eating habit in Gradual Change.

Even if you’re the third generation of bad eating habits, there is a plethora of education, knowledge and resources at your fingertips.

There is no excuse.

Tags: children, health, idiocy, meals, raw milk

My daughter was past due for her three month vaccinations.  When I took her in, she got a shot in each leg, plus an oral polio.  They wanted to do another shot to “catch up” but I declined, agreeing to return in two weeks.

I had no idea at the time how huge that decision would turn out to be.

Within hours, my daughter changed.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  Her face was just… different.  She was crying different.  She was acting different.  Within twelve hours, she had a low grade temperature and an unexplainable rash.

I called my pediatrician and told her what was going on.  I told her she had just received her first round of vaccinations.  The doctor simply instructed me to  give her acetaminophen (Tylenol).  I already had, but I continued giving her a dose every four hours.

It didn’t help.

In fact, my daughter seemed increasingly distraught.  Within the next couple weeks, I must have called the pediatrician about half a dozen times.  She still had the fever.  She still had the rash.  She still acted funny.  The only change was that the rash would disappear and then show up again somewhere else.

“Something is wrong.” I insisted.  I kept mentioning the vaccinations, but the doctor always said it “couldn’t be that.”

So I did the only thing I knew what to do.  I Googled her symptoms.  I typed “child+fever+traveling rash+strange cry” and hit enter.

The first page was full of words like “immunization”, “reaction”, “emergency room”, “vaccinations”, and “adverse effects”.  I began to shake inside, sick with the knowledge that in doing what I believed was right, I may have done irreparable damage to my sweet baby girl.  She had all the signs of children experiencing more serious reactions to a vaccine.  What hit me like a punch to the gut was that she was having many of the signs of children who later slipped deeper into autism.

I called my pediatrician once again. When I told her what I suspected, I was met with silence.  She then repeated her mantra, “It couldn’t be that.”

“Why not?” I asked, completely dumbfounded.  “It all began the very day she had her shots.”

Silence.

“Have you changed your laundry detergent?”

So that’s where it was going.  Nowhere.  The doctor was faced with a child experiencing classic adverse reactions to a vaccine and all she could do was try to pin it on soap?  She refused to even discuss the possibility, refused to tell me why, and refused to report it.   Doctors are required by law to report adverse reactions, by the way.

And so began my journey into the world of no answers.  A place where emotions run high, opinions are deep, and deception is the name of the game.

I immediately began reading all I could on vaccinations.  I began, of course, with how to reverse adverse affects.  My daughter is completely normal now, thank God.  I don’t think she would be if she would have received that “just one more” shot that day or even weeks after.

The fact that parents vaccinate their children doesn’t bother me.  What concerns me is the idea many have that parents should not have a choice in the matter.  And what frustrates me is that those who administer vaccines do not make the information and education readily available for parents to be able to make that choice.

Oh, I’m not talking about the pretty colored sheets that they hand you when you go to get their shots.  Those are practically useless, and only lend credence to the claim that any information they do make available is extremely one sided.  And yes, the information is in large part one-sided.  I have no illusions that the medical field is looking out for my child’s best interest.

What about telling parents about things they could do to help prevent damage from vaccines?  Don’t confuse that with making the child more comfortable by administering Tylenol.  I’m referring to things like homeopathics and large quantities of Vitamin C.  (Oh, wait.  I forgot.  Those are just snake oil and voodoo.)

What about checking vaccine antibody levels (titers) instead of automatically giving booster shots that could very well be unnecessary?

What about warning parents that children who have siblings with diabetes may have an increased risk of adverse reaction to the MMR?

What about warning parents that children with digestive or gut issues may have an increased risk of an adverse vaccine reaction?  (It is my suspicion this is why my daughter experienced such a strong adverse reaction.  She had digestive issues and severe constipation since birth.  To which my pediatrician simply advised daily doses of corn syrup.  Yes, corn syrup.)

Why do they call them immunizations?

Why is it so difficult to find anyone who will administer just one or two desired vaccines?  Why is it so difficult to find a doctor who is willing to spread out the vaccines?  Why is the CDC schedule more revered than the responsibility to view each patient as an individual?

Why do they so often try to avoid giving a parent the Lot number for the vaccine?  Why isn’t this information given automatically, as part of administering the vaccine?

Why is the Hep B vaccine given to every newborn at birth, regardless of the baby’s risk of the disease?  Why is opting out of the vaccine so difficult even when it is clearly not necessary?  Why are parents who choose to do so treated like they are irresponsible?  Why does the waiver sheet in essence say the parents are admitting negligence?

And on and on and on.

There is so much more I could say, especially in light of recent “news”.  Another day, perhaps.

Tags: health, idiocy, vaccines

Government schools serve the meat that fast food companies won’t use because of “quality considerations”??

You can read the full article here at Why Is Crappy Fast Food Safer Than School Lunches?

Tags: health, meals

Having carried six healthy babies in my womb and experienced the joy of seeing them before birth via ultrasound, I can definitely say that yes, that figure in black and white squirming on the screen..

it certainly was a baby!

As a mother who has also held a baby in my hands that had died at about 12 weeks into the pregnancy… I can most assuredly tell you that

YES, it was a baby.

The following video speaks for itself. I have no words.

(you will have to click through to see the video)

Tags: baby, health, idiocy, miscarriage

A couple years ago, I published a natural childbirth article with a funny twist on Thanksgiving dinner.  I am reposting it below.  (I could no longer find a valid link to the original article.)

by Carolyn Keefe 
from Citizens for Midwifery News, Fall/Winter 2004

Thanksgiving is coming up, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to think about the normality of birth. We often say that birth is a normal physiological process, but its hard for most people to understand what that means. Comparisons to other normal physiological functions are valuable. Although some others more closely resemble birth, eating will work to illustrate how a normal function can be spoiled by over-zealous attempts to control it.

Of course, birth is a far more profound and rare experience. Also, in both cases, sometimes some people need help — when eating people can choke, have allergic reactions, have digestive disorders, and even need to bypass the whole process. But in both cases, most of the time, our bodies can perform the function more or less as designed.
Let’s imagine, then, consuming our Thanksgiving dinner under the same circumstances that most women in the US give birth:

Welcome to our humble establishment. We hope you enjoy sharing your special Thanksgiving Dinner with us. Well do our best to make your dinner a unique and memorable experience.

Our highly trained professional staff is among the best in business and will work to ensure your comfort, privacy, and safety while dining in our establishment, a state of the art facility. The home-like ambiance will help you relax, and you’ll appreciate the comfort of knowing that the operating room is right down the hall, should the need arise.

• First, you make the decision to leave home and go out to the “best” restaurant in town with the “best” chefs. This means leaving behind your children and most of your family, but you agree anyway.

• When you make your reservations, you are informed that consuming the meal will very likely be dangerous and difficult, so a surgeon will be supervising in case it becomes necessary to insert a tube.

• The restaurant insists that you arrive before Thanksgiving and get started on the meal early, so as not to miss the holiday.

• You are encouraged to change into appropriate clothes for eating, though they may be uncomfortable and make you feel self conscious.

• Before you can sit down to eat, you’re hooked up to an IV and wires to monitor your progress with swallowing and digestion, just in case emergency surgery is needed.

• As you eat, various medical personnel hover, looking in your mouth periodically — sometimes in mid-chew — to make sure you’re progressing well.

• At the first sign of displeasure or difficulty, you’re offered seasonings to mask the flavor and the meal is pureed to make it easier to swallow.

• If you aren’t eating quickly enough, the surgeon comes in to give you something to improve your appetite and tells you that the tube will need to be inserted if you don’t finish soon.

• When the moment you’ve been waiting for finally comes, the surgeon performs a procedure to expedite the process.

• When the meal is all over, everyone tells you that are lucky to have finished it alive, with your entire family intact. After all, such unpleasantness is the price we pay for eating safely.

• Even if you are able to complete the meal under these circumstances, any complaints you might have are dismissed as ingratitude. You learn to not discuss it and accept that you will be expected to undergo exactly the same experience for each Thanksgiving dinner.

Of course, birthing women are in a far more heightened state of awareness. They are extremely vulnerable to stimuli, which can have a profound effect on their ability to function well under such circumstances and on their perceptions of the experience later.
If the meal described above seems unpleasant, imagine how difficult giving birth under such circumstances must be. That so many women do it successfully with a minimum of negative effects is remarkable. Then again, many do not. Small wonder.

Happy Thanksgiving and Bon Appétit!

Tags: baby, health, idiocy, medicine

I’ve got another recipe up at the Real Food Revolution!

It’s a yummy Summer Pizza, perfect for hot days.

Tags: health, meals

Due to missing a couple weeks of ordering from my food co-op, this morning we had to make a dreaded trip to the grocery store. The ridiculousness of our food habits and system is astounding. I was freshly irritated by the vast amounts of dye, preservatives and poisons like MSG and Splenda. Not to mention that there is high fructose corn syrup in everything.

I couldn’t even bring myself to buy most of the stuff that I had on my list.

Robb and I recently had the opportunity to watch the movie Food, Inc. in Ann Arbor. The subtitle is How Industrial Food Is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer - And what You Can Do About It.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone. If you are passionate about food and its effects on health, like I am, you will enjoy it. But those who really have no idea about where our foods come from and why it matters should especially watch this!

Just one aspect it explores is the horrific effect of cattle “farms” feeding cows corn instead of pasture and hay as they were designed. When E. coli levels go berserk in the cows from eating such garbage, it gets in the meat through contact with manure during the oh-so-safe government regulated slaughtering. Yum.

But instead of changing what they’re feeding the cows or even how animals are slaughtered, they come up with the grand idea of spraying meat with ammonia. To kill the E. coli of course.

Sounds like a solution to me.

One thing I disagreed with is how they brought out the cost aspect of eating healthy. They did such things as comparing the cost of broccoli to a hamburger, and commenting on how much medications cost for a family struggling financially.

While it’s true that you can get a hamburger for 99 cents, or a taco for 79 cents, what that person is not taking into consideration is the long term costs of choosing the “cheaper” foods. Obesity and the related health problems, along with heart disease, diabetes, etc are almost always food related. Eating crap and then complaining about the cost of medications to treat the consequences of eating that crap is pure idiocy.

Plus, those “cheap” foods just do not fill you up like whole foods do. So you end up eating more of them, more often. Which also means more money spent.

Long story short, I did not have much sympathy for the family they interviewed. The man who was struggling to pay for basic living expenses as well as his diabetes medication, ordered a Dr. Pepper to go with his meal. Um, why not water? So they filled up on cheap hamburgers because they “don’t have time to make it at home” and that’s “all they could afford”. Hmm.

How’s this for just one idea: Spend a couple hours one day and make enough homemade tortillas to store in the freezer. They’re just flour, water, oil and salt. Easy peasy. Then, buy a big bag of rice and a big bag of dry beans. They are so very cheap! Soak some beans, then put them in a crockpot overnight with some of the rice. Place some tortillas from the freezer into the fridge. In the morning, you just grab a couple tortillas, pile on some rice and beans, maybe some toppings like lettuce, cheese, salsa, etc., a fruit (apple, pear, banana, etc) and BAM a fast, healthy, CHEAP meal.

But, whatever. I kinda got off on a tangent.

My absolute favorite part was at the end of the movie, when it pointed out how much we actually control what kinds of foods are made available to us. Through our food purchases, we send a message to the companies making and supplying food.

We vote three times a day. What are you voting for?

Here’s the movie trailer.

Tags: budgeting, health, idiocy, meals