From time to time, I would like to share that change with you.  Realize please, we are NOT perfect!  We are definitely still growing and changing our ways to become healthier.  I know it is overwhelming to change your life- especially in an area where food is involved.  If there is one thing I know from the cleanse:  Food is a very touchy, emotional subject.  And, as with anything, the key to permanent change is to change slowly over a period of time.  Be encouraged by your small moves towards health and wellness.  We all have set backs, it’s okay, just keep moving forward!

Hopefully, this post will help you get started and implement some small changes to help you and your family.  I will tell you one thing, Harper is being raised eating a lot differently than either of us ever did growing up.  That is something we are so very proud of!  He is reaping the benefits of all of our efforts to change our eating habits; and, every time he eats something healthy that the typical American kid wouldn’t touch (or many adults for that matter), we just smile.  He is our proof that our hard efforts are paying off in a big way.  After all, shouldn’t each generation be and do better than the last?  That is what this is all about:  Changing slowly so you can not only be healthier, but you can teach those after you how to do it right.

Here are some small steps:

1) Drink clean water.  We buy reverse osmosis water (this is really cheap), and we don’t really keep other drinks in the house.  If there aren’t other options, what to drink is a really easy decision!  Make it fun by adding fresh orange, lemon or lime slices- even try some fresh mint sprigs from time to time.  Most people walk around dehydrated and don’t even realize it; the more water you give your body, the more your body will crave water (trust me on this one!). 

This one can be hard, especially if you (or your kids) are used to drinking a lot of juices or teas or sodas.  An easy way to transition, start by drinking as much water as you plan to drink of the other beverage before you drink the other beverage.  You won’t drink as much of the other liquid if you start with water first.  Then, especially with juices/teas (doesn’t work so well with sodas), start diluting the other beverage with water until over time all you are drinking is water.  This last step is a wonderful way to transition kids.

2) Add a little raw vegetables to lunch, dinner and most snacks.  Why?  Raw foods contain enzymes which help you break down and digest your other foods.  Also, you will absorb nutrients better from raw than cooked because these foods are living.  And, just like with adding water, when you add vegetables to your body, your undernourished body will eventually realize it needs this, and you will start craving them!  I know some of you think you could never crave something as healthy as a veggie, again, trust me on this.

3) Replace all of your salt with sea salt.  We use Real Sea Salt, which is sold in many stores and very easy to find.  Real Sea Salt is very different from the salt most people are used to.  Why?  First of all, it looks different, it is not bleach white and is quite colorful.  This is a great sign because it lets you know it hasn’t been bleached and processed and it tells you all of the minerals have been left in it.  This salt has so many wonderful nutrients in it, which are healthy for you.  Yes, now you can use salt without worrying about the harmful side effects.  Even if you are pregnant, because of all the essential nutrients this salt contains, you can salt to taste and not worry about the side effects.  You may be surprised, but this salt tastes so much better than the salt you’ve been used to all of your life.  And, it takes a lot less of it to bring out wonderful flavors in your food.  This company sells many flavored salts and seasonings, start trying them out.  I’d love to hear what you think.

4) Join an organic food co-op.  We belong to Monica Brown’s Healthsource Group.  I know I have said a lot about how much I love this in previous post.  This is such an easy way to transition, try it!  You can buy a member’s share when they are out of town, you can split a share with someone until you decide you want a full one, and/or you can try the co-op for a few weeks to see what you think.  Why is this so essential?  Several reasons:  It forces you to try different types of organic produce that you may not usually buy.  Do you know how many ”weird” things we eat/do because we first found out about them through the co-op.  And, don’t let this scare you.  First, you choose how “weird” you want to be .  No, seriously, in the co-op you will find most of the produce are normal things you would eat (salad, tomatoes, potatoes, oranges, apples, onions).  You get a lot of the usual things you pick up at the store, but at first, there are usually a couple of things which you have never seen before.  What a great opportunity!  And, everyone on the co-op board shares their ideas/recipes.  Google is a great recipe tool too.  Many things we now love to eat, and “have to have” on a weekly basis got their start in our co-op bin, as we would question, “What is that?!”.  Try it!

5) Find one new, healthy recipe to try every other week.  Again, many of these have become our staple meals.  And, what’s the worse that can happen?  None of your family, including you, thinks the recipe is edible so you get to enjoy a meal out after cooking.  See, it’s worth the try just for the possibility of getting to dine out.  Pick a recipe from my blog, or from the Nourishing Traditions book or from any of the other cooking sites I have mentioned.  Have fun!

There you have it, some tips to get you started.  One more thing, notice how every trick I have offered mentions adding something in or replacing it?  If you start with taking everything out and thinking, “I can’t do or have this.”, you will never stick with it.  It is human nature to run away from pain and towards pleasure.  Don’t make this a painful process!  Start slow and have a worthy goal! 

Any ideas you wish to share on how you transitioned?  I would love to hear them!  And, check back often, I will try to share lots more ideas.

When discussing bacteria, two points are key:  1) Make sure your body is taking in plenty of good bacteria and then 2) Make sure you are encouraging the good bacteria to thrive and not doing things to kill it off.  How do we do this in our house?  We take a probiotic supplement on a daily basis, eat organic, fresh produce as much as possible, minimally (if at all) wash the organic, fresh produce, and avoid using anti-bacterial hand sanitizers or soaps.

Lately, with all the hype and fear mongering over the flu- especially the piggy flu- you can find hand sanitizers prominently displayed in most public areas.  Do you realize these could actually be helping spread illness, and not preventing it?  See, even though the hand sanitizer companies claim that their products kill bacteria and help keep you well, what they don’t explain is that we need some bacteria in order to stay healthy.  Good bacteria help keep your body in balance and ward off the bad guys from taking over.  Problem is, these hand sanitizers aren’t selective of which bacteria to kill.  They kill it all, up to 99%, as they claim.  This is a huge problem because it depletes an already deficient (as I will explain later) body of its good bacteria, that was there to help ban the bad bacteria and keep you well.  Squirt, squirt…  You just rubbed it all away and now that alcohol smell is there to remind you: “You have an even bigger mess on your hands!”

What then is a better solution than hand sanitizers and antibacterial soap?  If you are out and don’t have access to running water, try keeping a small bottle of colloidal silver with you.  Colloidal silver is wonderful because it will kill the bad guys and leave the good guys.  Or, make a natural solution with essential oils that help keep germs at bay, like tea tree oil.  When you do have access to a bathroom, hot water and regular, old fashioned soap (like Dr. Bronner’s) is the best.  

Probiotics are something I have always talked a lot about.  Why?  Well, in our current world, we have made probiotic supplementation a necessity for health and wellness.  What are probiotics?  ”Pro” means ”for” and “biotic” means “life” or “living organism”.  Why do we have to supplement with probiotics and why can’t we simply get them from the food we eat?  Current research tells us that our diet only provides us with one millionth of the healthy bacteria our ancestors used to consume.  Farming practices have made our diets severely deficient- insecticides, herbicides, food transportation and storage, and poor soil all play a part in decreasing the amount of good bacteria available to us through our food.  Our deficiency and the practices which make us deficient are only getting worse; therefore, I am so thankful probiotic supplementation is an option!

I have an incredible testimonial about probiotics.  And, because of the cases I see in practice on a daily basis, I am even more thankful for my personal experience.  Digestive problems are one of the major things I see in my office, and I believe the problem is getting worse and the cases are increasing daily.  It is so sad!  Our health and wellness is dependent on our digestive system because the stomach allows the good stuff in from our food and keeps the bad stuff out.  If this system isn’t working at its best, we are in big trouble!  I supplemented with probioticson a daily basis when I was pregnant, beginning a little before conception.  Never once did I experience digestive problems while pregnant.  I felt so blessed!  I can only count a few moms on one hand who I know and/or see as patients that don’t experience some constipation and/or heartburn while pregnant.  I was not one of them, and I strongly believe my probiotic intake had a lot to do with this.  Then, once Harper was born, 14 months ago today, we never experienced digestive problems with him either.  We were fortunate not to have colic problems with him (something I see a lot in the office too), he only spit up normal amounts as a newborn, and he has had at least two bowel movements a day (usually 4-6 a day is normal for him) ever since his birth.  We have never gone a day without bowel movements!  Talk to any mom, and you will know what a miracle that is.  So many babies have constipation issues, and we are so fortunate not to have experienced this.  Therefore, after religiously taking probiotics, and having both mine and Harper’s personal experience, I highly recommend them for overall health- especially for great digestion.    

From now on, appreciate bacteria.  They have gotten such a bad connotation, but they are absolutely vital (especially the good ones).

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” -Marie Curie

I wasn’t going to say anything, but my point of tolerance has been reached, and it’s time for me to blog.  Yesterday- while I waited with a client at a specialist’s office for 3 hours- unfortunately, I had to listen to CNN blaring the same news reports over and over again.  I was once again convicted why I do not listen to the news.  Lies, lies, lies and more lies, and fear, fear, fear and more fear, they can spin any story, any research, to tell what they want to tell and paint the picture they desire to paint.  And, do you notice how rarely good news and happy stories are told?!  Hardly ever!  And to think, there are some households and offices (like the one we were in) where this stuff is on on a continual basis.  Remember, you don’t have to pay deep attention to it for it to affect you and for them to get their fear into your brain. 

What did they keep repeating on that news station that has me so razzed up?  H1N1.  Ok, when has the average person quoted the strain and scientific name of a virus.  I mean, I say, “H1N1″ and you immediately say, “Swine Flu.”  From the elite, educated in society to little kids and those who care less about education or health; it doesn’t matter who you are, you know about H1N1.  And, be honest, most people are really fearful.  Why?  Because fear sales, fear moves people, and fear is sold to us from every facet on a daily basis, several times a day:  We hear it on every news channel, read it in the magazines and newspapers, see it on the web, get talked to about it at school and in the doctor’s office, tweet about it, Facebook and blog about it and discuss it with our families over dinner.  Yes, I go through 3 hours of that in a waiting room yesterday, and then I wake up this morning to read it on a blog and at lunch I overhear people at the next table talking about the shot.  This flu, it’s everywhere!  Or is it?

Familiar with the saying, “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.  If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”?  Most of the time, when Swine Flu comes up in discussion, people are simply repeating the lies that have been sold to them that they now claim are truth.  How often are you hearing research in these conversations, and research that is actually reported and not spun in a certain direction?  Not very often!  I mean, it has reached a ridiculous point, and hopefully one day we won’t look back and regret the choices we have made out of fear.  These choices are being made irrationally, without much research, thought or education and hastily.

Here are some of the ridiculous things I am talking about.  Yesterday, on CNN, the reports over and over again kept talking about the debate that is going on over how absurd it is that prisoners and detained terrorists are getting the H1N1 vaccine, when there is a shortage for the general public.  A blog of a mom I read wrote a post today furious because she can’t get her shot, it’s not available in our area.  She has a baby and is pregnant, and she is enraged because she can’t find an available shot for her 1 year old and her and her unborn baby.  Everyday on Facebook, I read status updates of friends freaking out because someone they know has been exposed, or they hope their symptoms of illness don’t mean they have this awful flu that kills people.  And, I can’t count how many times patients are asking me about it in the office. 

OK, first of all, anyone who wants the vaccine that is out there with my name on it, can have it!!!  In fact, I will gladly let you have my husband’s and my son’s and my parent’s for that matter.  As far as I am concerned, keep using it on the prisoners, please let there continue to be a shortage for the public!  I pray that they never come up with enough shots…  If they do, I fear the day, and I suspect they will find someway to enforce everyone to get a shot.  I mean, why else would we be pushing this fear so much?  Well, we know the answer to that, fear sells and fear makes people a lot of money!  Don’t kid yourself, they care nothing about you or your family or your health…  You would like to think that they do and that is why all this publicity and fear is flying around, but the real reason is because drugs and shots and office visits and tests make lots of money. 

How come I would make such ridiculous statements?  Why am I not fearful of this flu and why am I so scared of a shot that is meant to protect me and my family?  Well, because I have done my research, have you? 

Here’s what the true research says: 

~The CDC found that if one member of a family got the swine flu, other members of that family only contract it 10% of the time.  (So why are we quarantining people?!  And, why are we so scared of being around someone who has had this flu or symptoms of it?)

~CDC says usually 36,000 people a year die from the flu or flu related illness.  This year, only 900 have died so far.  (Again, why are we so afraid of this horrible virus?)

~60% of children and 83% of adults who have died from Swine Flu had underlying health conditions.  (Do you usually hear this stat?  No, you just hear to be scared because this flu kills!)

~Virologists studying the Swine Flu found that it was no more dangerous (pathogenic) than the regular seasonal flu.  (Again, why are we so scared of this particular flu and rushing into the doctor’s office like never before?)

And as far as the shot or treatments go:

~National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease found that 75% of small children below age 35 months received no protection from the H1N1 vaccine and that 65% of children between the ages of 3 years and 9 years received no protection from the vaccine.  (Where has this info been?  That’s why schools are now volunteering to give your child the shot.)

~Another study found that getting the regular, seasonal flu vaccine doubles your risk of contracting the Swine Flu.  (Every news channel is reporting this one, right?)

~The insert from the vaccine package states that developing antibodies after getting the shot has shown no correlation with not getting sick with the Swine Flu.  (Why are we getting the shot then?)

~The shots were tested for 1-3 weeks before being released to the public.(Will we regret this decision to vaccinate when adverse effects that take longer than 3 weeks to show up appear?)

~We know mercury and aluminum are extremely toxic, especially to pregnant moms and infants. (Why are we pushing this shot particularly for this part of the population?  Why are we so fast to accept mercury in a shot, but freak out about its toxic effects and refuse to be exposed to it otherwise?)

~Testing is done with vaccines not containing the preservatives, but the vaccines given to the public contain the preservatives.

I have done my research, and the virus isn’t what is scaring me!