I just made myself a very nice lunch and I thought to myself ..."Great to be eating good tasting food that i made myself, which also happens to be good for me"
Short and sweet. Now back to work!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Alternatives to standard vaccinations with homeopathy
When I was first introduced to the concept of homeopathic vaccinations / prophylaxis, I found it very promising. After researching the standard child immunizations I became very concerned that the vaccines may actually do more harm than good.
Here is one of the keys to health via Wikipedia
Prophylaxis (Greek "προφυλάσσω" to guard or prevent beforehand) is any medical or public health procedure whose purpose is to prevent, rather than treat or cure a disease. In general terms, prophylactic measures are divided between primary prophylaxis (to prevent the development of a disease) and secondary prophylaxis (whereby the disease has already developed and the patient is protected against worsening of this process).
At present moment I practice prophylaxis via regular exercise, dental cleanings, health promoting diet, regular chiropractic care, proper rest, etc... Doctors also prescribe antibiotics post surgery as a prophylactic in case there was any infection entering the body.
There are many individuals and groups who have done much to bring awareness to dangers of regular vaccinations that society in general thinks are safe and effective. I will do a separate post about this, but here is one example of the apparent risks in the Polio Vaccine. (Polio, AIDS, weakened immune system)
The www.thinktwice.com site has a link to an article by Dr. Richard Pitcairn, a homeopath who discusses the homeopathic alternative to several vaccines. I read it and I am now more open to this idea. Here is what he says:
I think, as time goes on, we will see more and more evidence of the problems associated with vaccination. If I may venture to make a prediction, it is that 50 or 100 years from now people will look back at the practice of introducing disease into people and animals for the purpose of preventing these same diseases as a foolishness — a foolishness similar to that of the practice of blood-letting or the use of toxic doses of mercury in the treatment of disease.
In his article he discusses Whooping Cough, Diphtheria (DTaP), and Poliomyelitis (Polio) along with animal diseases which also responded well to homeopathic vaccinations / prophylaxis.
So if you are looking at an alternative, this may very well be a promising one given that in general homeopathic medicine is considered safe without any known side effects. I know I will be looking more into it.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Taking a closer look at Vaccinations
I did some research when looking at the seasonal flu vaccine last year for my son who at the time was 2 years old and in daycare 5 days a week. He is exposed to so many viruses every day and his chances of exposure to the flu virus are high especially during the winter months.
To keep him healthy in general we had been following a nutritarian diet outlined in Dr. Fuhrmans book Disease Proof Your Child but at a regular doctors checkup we were faced with the decision about flu vaccinations. So lets examine this question together so we can draw our own conclusions about the flu vaccine and if it's effective and safe.
Lets first look at the flu vaccine Effectiveness. Does this thing even work?
Given all their hype, they must work pretty well right? The doctors say that some years they are more effective then in other years and the formula changes every year based on a vote of which flu strains should be included.
If your child is under 2 years old they will get live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) and based on what I see in the research it's only 28%-36% effective and efficacy 59 - 65% which is similar to placebo. (6,7)
If your child is under 2 years old they will get live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) and based on what I see in the research it's only 28%-36% effective and efficacy 59 - 65% which is similar to placebo. (6,7)
If your child is over 2 years old they will get (IIV) inactivated influenza vaccine. Looking at the data (4,5,9) for various years, it suggests the effectiveness for IIV 33%-38% and efficacy 79 - 82% Which means it's chances of (prevention of influenza-like illness) are about 1/3, a very poor outcome.
So would you get this vaccine if you knew that it's effectiveness historically is roughly 33%? What if you knew that there is a chance that you may become very ill from it's side effects? I also learned that vaccines relative safety had not been fully studied (4 5). Shocked?
If you are not convinced look at this Review for (children, elderly, people with illnesses) where the authors conclude For healthy children:
Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two but little evidence is available for children under two. There was a marked difference between vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. No safety comparisons could be carried out, emphasizing the need for standardisation of methods and presentation of vaccine safety data in future studies. It was surprising to find only one study of inactivated vaccine in children under two years, given current recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and Canada.. If immunisation in children is to be recommended as a public health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required.
Ok, so how about in adults? Lets review one paper Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults (Review) where the authors conclude
There is not enough evidence to decide whether routine vaccination to prevent influenza in healthy adults is effective.
Bottom line is although the vaccine works pretty well under lab conditions (efficacy) it is not effective enough (33%) to warrant a flu shot and risk the side effects and exposure to the chemicals in the actual vaccine. If you interpret the data differently, let me know!
When looking at vaccines, we were concerned about their mercury in general, but we learned from the pediatrician that a flu vaccine without mercury is available, and that the actual amount in the vaccine is negligent and compares to him having a serving of fish. The doctor also pointed out that the flu vaccine can lessen the severity of the flu in children if they do get it.
Wait - is that really true? Is having your child get the flu vaccine twice a year equal to eating a serving of fish in terms of ingested mercury? Lets find out!
If my child was eating fish, say he had some tuna. Given a serving size of 4oz of chunk white tuna, he will be getting 35 micrograms per gram of mercury (1). In comparison the fluzone vaccine contains 25 micrograms of thimersol (mercury) per dose (2). So yes, this means that eating a 4oz of tuna is exposing him to about the same level of mercury as getting a flu shot.
Is mercury so bad? Yes! If he is allowed 1.13 micrograms per day based on his weight (25lbs) that's about 22 times the EPA recommended level of mercury (1) in a single shot. There is also nifty calculator that does the calculations given the allowed oz of a type of fish for for weight. I plugged in weight of 25lbs and selected canned tuna light and I came out with maximum dose of 2.3oz per week. But let's not get carried away with mercury in fish thing since we already know that eating fish exposes him to mercury, PCB's and other toxins/cancinogens. Checkout my post about eating fish.
The mercury is not negligent in the flu shot! The doctor who said it should reexamine his sources...
However the doctor also advised us that there is a flu vaccine that needs to be special ordered and is available without mercury; so you can omit mercury in the shot it if you are determined. But it takes work to get this done. They don't make it easy.
Another question we need to look at is What are the other ingredients in these flu vaccines we should be concerned about?
Another question we need to look at is What are the other ingredients in these flu vaccines we should be concerned about?
Formaldehyde, Chick Embryo, Octoxinol-9, Triton X-100,Gelatin,Sodium Phosphate,Sodium Chloride(Salt)(3)
Also what about the danger of getting this vaccine done twice each year for life as recommended?
I suspect that those other ingredients will cause some kind of a reaction in all people. Some kids immune system are better able to deal with them, and others are not so lucky and they get very sick and some even die. Here is a database you can search yourself for reported vaccine reactions
Nevertheless I believe the best protection is trying to adhere to the nutritarian diet and feeding your kids the right foods. When your kids eat a disease-proof diet, they are eating for health; and if they do get sick, it's no big deal and they fight it off easily. It's amazing what an immune system is capable of fighting off.
Here are some links to check out while you are looking at vaccines and references I used.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Ready Set Juice!
We made our first juice this morning from what I had on hand
5 Carrots, 2 Crispy Green Apples, bunch of Kale, 1/2 Lime - peeled, 1/2 head of romaine.
It was good :) It's a little getting used to it since the shoot is so small, but I managed. Next time I will cut it up smaller and see if that speeds things up.
My son was watching the whole thing and was amazed with the pulp shooting out, and after all the juicing was done, he wouldn't touch the juice it since it was GREEN... but he really wanted the pulp :)
So I let him try it and he liked it and wanted me to give him more for breakfast! LOL It was so funny that he refused the actual juice but it's great that he told me what he wanted.
I did give him a little juice so it's not too dry and some more in his soup for lunch so he got his share or healthy nutrients today!
Note to self - Next time when I make juice for him to actually drink, I will remember to make it another color.
5 Carrots, 2 Crispy Green Apples, bunch of Kale, 1/2 Lime - peeled, 1/2 head of romaine.
It was good :) It's a little getting used to it since the shoot is so small, but I managed. Next time I will cut it up smaller and see if that speeds things up.
My son was watching the whole thing and was amazed with the pulp shooting out, and after all the juicing was done, he wouldn't touch the juice it since it was GREEN... but he really wanted the pulp :)
So I let him try it and he liked it and wanted me to give him more for breakfast! LOL It was so funny that he refused the actual juice but it's great that he told me what he wanted.
I did give him a little juice so it's not too dry and some more in his soup for lunch so he got his share or healthy nutrients today!
Note to self - Next time when I make juice for him to actually drink, I will remember to make it another color.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Mandatory Vaccinations for US citizens - What are they thinking?
Mandatory Vaccination Bill passes senate in MA
Even though I don't live in MA, I am concerned about this new bill
If you refuse the vaccination or refuse to be quarantined (FEMA camps?) the penalty is $1000 per day or 30 days in prison.
Sounds like they are using volunteers (community organizers?) to help enforce it.
I for one don't want to have the government enforce any kind of mandatory vaccine or any procedure for that matter.
I don't want to worry about my kids getting sick afterwards
If you want to learn more about what's in the vaccine go here
Quote:
| The bill gives the public health commissioner the discretion to respond to an outbreak like the kind going on in Mexico - to close or evacuate buildings, enter private property, isolate or quarantine people, and to get and distribute meds and vaccines. |
Sounds like they are using volunteers (community organizers?) to help enforce it.
I for one don't want to have the government enforce any kind of mandatory vaccine or any procedure for that matter.
I don't want to worry about my kids getting sick afterwards
Quote:
| A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease |
... This is not the first time....
"On February 15, 1976, an army recruit at Fort Dix said he felt tired and weak. He died the next day and four of his fellow soldiers were later hospitalized. Two weeks after his death, health officials announced that swine flu was the cause of death and that this strain of flu appeared to be closely related to the strain involved in the 1918 flu pandemic. Alarmed public-health officials decided that action must be taken to head off another major pandemic, and they urged President Gerald Ford that every person in the U.S. be vaccinated for the disease. The vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, but about 24% of the population had been vaccinated by the time the program was canceled. Only one person, the Fort Dix army recruit, died from the flu"
"There were reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralyzing neuromuscular disorder, affecting some people who had received swine flu immunizations."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.salon.com/env/
Friday, August 21, 2009
Are those weeds edible?
I had the pleasure to take a tour with wildman Steven Brill through our farm and the neighboring wooden trail. Here is what we found and learned
Edible Food We Found
Foxtail Grass - edible grains can be eaten raw or cooked.
Amaranth - we got some seeds from it (which is used as grain). It's great in stir fries and is easy to prepare. Enya even has a song about it :)
Lambs Quarters - European relative of spinach and beets and can be eater raw or cooked.
Wild Yellow Watercress - similar tasting to regular watercress and just as nutritious too!
Ladies thumb - another edible plant that grows plentifully on the compost heap.
Wood Sorrel 3 leaves shaped like hearts are sour like sorrel, which also grows in my garden
Wild Carrot - smells like a carrot, hairy stalk. Can eat the root and the seeds can be used instead of caraway seeds. More here
Black Locut Tree - Black locust blossoms taste something like sweet peas with a hint of vanilla, and their wonderful aroma and subtle flavor lend themselves magnificently in a variety of dishes
Wild Amenity - can't find any info on it online, so I may have the spelling wrong. It's edible and grows in abundance. It has triangular leaves and sharp stalks and down the middle of the leaf. eat the smaller leaves without much sharp spikes.
White pine -British soldiers made their boats out of them, and it was illegal to cut one down by anyone but the gov. But it's also good for making tea from the needles I hear.
Garlic Mustard - this is the mustard seed pod with edible seeds
Wild Grapes - I think they are the Fox Grape variety, the father of the concord grape that
is very sour and mmm good.
Black Walnuts- taste similar to regular walnuts, but much stronger. I use them in baking banana
oat cookies
Burdock Root - Used in chinese cooking
Also saw some Non -Edible, but useful to know plants
Philadelphia Inquirer apparently had someone on the tour as well and wrote a nice article about our adventures that day.
It was a very good learning experience, and I had since discovered other wild plants that are edible as well right in my back yard. Wild Purslane - didn't see on the tour but I had seen a recipe, wood sorrel, dandelions. On our stroll through the neighborhood my son and I we also saw some lamb quarters and more wood sorrel. And then I was asked "What's that daddy?" and I didn't know, but I promised to look it up and get back to him.
Edible Food We Found
Foxtail Grass - edible grains can be eaten raw or cooked.
Amaranth - we got some seeds from it (which is used as grain). It's great in stir fries and is easy to prepare. Enya even has a song about it :)
Lambs Quarters - European relative of spinach and beets and can be eater raw or cooked.
Wild Yellow Watercress - similar tasting to regular watercress and just as nutritious too!
Ladies thumb - another edible plant that grows plentifully on the compost heap.
Wood Sorrel 3 leaves shaped like hearts are sour like sorrel, which also grows in my garden
Wild Carrot - smells like a carrot, hairy stalk. Can eat the root and the seeds can be used instead of caraway seeds. More here
Black Locut Tree - Black locust blossoms taste something like sweet peas with a hint of vanilla, and their wonderful aroma and subtle flavor lend themselves magnificently in a variety of dishes
Wild Amenity - can't find any info on it online, so I may have the spelling wrong. It's edible and grows in abundance. It has triangular leaves and sharp stalks and down the middle of the leaf. eat the smaller leaves without much sharp spikes.
White pine -British soldiers made their boats out of them, and it was illegal to cut one down by anyone but the gov. But it's also good for making tea from the needles I hear.
Garlic Mustard - this is the mustard seed pod with edible seeds
Wild Grapes - I think they are the Fox Grape variety, the father of the concord grape that
is very sour and mmm good.
Black Walnuts- taste similar to regular walnuts, but much stronger. I use them in baking banana
oat cookies
Burdock Root - Used in chinese cooking
Also saw some Non -Edible, but useful to know plants
- Common Plantain
- Mug Wort
- Yarrow
- Jewel weed
- Poison Ivy
Philadelphia Inquirer apparently had someone on the tour as well and wrote a nice article about our adventures that day.
It was a very good learning experience, and I had since discovered other wild plants that are edible as well right in my back yard. Wild Purslane - didn't see on the tour but I had seen a recipe, wood sorrel, dandelions. On our stroll through the neighborhood my son and I we also saw some lamb quarters and more wood sorrel. And then I was asked "What's that daddy?" and I didn't know, but I promised to look it up and get back to him.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
3 tips for a kids healthy nutritious breakfast and lunch
1. Making a morning smoothie or packing one from the night before is a great way to get some nutritious vegetables into your child's diet. You can practically sneak anything into it and since it will be blended up, unrecognizable, pulverized! The possibilities are endless as to whats in it, so give it a try. Start with something your kids are sure to like like Fruit/berries and slowly add ingredients as they get used to it
Try to blend or add to it once finished
Liquid (water/juice/nut milk)
+ Fruit (banana/apple/pear)
+ Fresh/Frozen Berries(blueberries, strawberries)
+ Veggies(celery, broccoli, peas)
+ Greens(spinach, kale, arugula).
+ Beans/Legumes(any bean - start with a small amount)
+ Seeds (blend some in or grind some raw seeds and sprinkle on top)
Make it from whatever you have available at home, and don't follow a recipe. Just try to experiment. You can use frozen fruit/berries or ice to make it colder. Putting in raisins, dates, and other dried fruit soaked in juice or water overnight will add sweetness to it. Color and texture is also important to consider: adding ingredients such as cooked beet(red), blueberries(blue) green(spinach or kale) orange is tricky so stick with carrots /oranges and fruit. white(banana, coconut). You can also add breakfast muesli or oatmeal on top with ground up seeds.
2. Always pack healthy food options even if you think they "won't eat that". My kids surprise me all the time and eat what they refuse to even try at home. So pack it for them anyway and you will also be surprised. Their hunger and a different environment will also play a role in different attitude towards the same foods, so don't play it safe by only packing foods that you know they like.
3. Making food ahead of time and freezing it for a quick meal prep helps when we don't have time and need to rush out. Soups, smoothies, corn, peas, all are good options. Just take out the soup the night before to defrost or defrost in the microwave in the morning.
Writing off that csa membership?
Just had an idea: Wouldn't it be nice if we can write off the cost of the csa membership off our taxes?
- Promote local farming and sustainable agriculture
- Promote healthy eating via increase in fruit/vegetable consumption and save money of health care cost as a result.
- Reduce greenhouse gas and pollution by decreasing demand for non-local food.
I am sure there are other benefits, but are there any drawbacks?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Invest in some new curtains for the bedrooms...
I just stumbled on the following theory "making the room very dark at night may help us feel better" after reading a newsletter Alex from rawguru.com sent out.
I looked it up and apparently we make more melatonin when the room is more dark, pitch black is best. We know that good sleep is important for health and this may help with that.
Darkness Produces Melatonin"It's not so much that light is bad for us as that darkness is good for us. Thus, not getting enough darkness can be harmful to our health. That's odd, isn't it? Our ancestors would surely not have understood this paradox, but we are beginning to understand it, thanks to medical research that has shed new, uh, light on the subject of darkness...we can, and should, consider darkness to be our friend, physiologically speaking. The reason is that darkness—or, to put it the other way, the absence of light—stimulates the production of a hormone,melatonin, from its immediate precursor, the neurotransmitter serotonin. Like serotonin, melatonin plays important roles in our physical and mental well-being. ...During daylight hours, melatonin production is minimal, and blood levels of this hormone remain low. When night falls, however, and the ambient light level plummets, the absence of light induces biochemical changes that cause melatonin production to increase dramatically, about 2 hours later. That's when we begin to feel sleepy, the signal that it's time to go to bed. Melatonin levels peak during the night and then decline to their previously low levels by morning—time to wake up.
Instead, We Turn on the Lights
In an ideal world, we would go with the flow of nature's circadian rhythms, obeying the melatonin signal by going to bed and getting a good night's sleep (which for most people means 7 to 9 hours, depending on individual needs). Alas, however, our modern world is far from ideal in this regard. When night falls, we turn on the lights, thereby suppressing the melatonin signal and interfering with the circadian rhythms that millions of years of evolution have programmed us for. Instead of getting ready for bed, we keep on working or playing, doing chores, pursuing hobbies, watching TV, etc. For some of us, actually, our day is just beginning, as we prepare to go to our night-shift jobs, where we'll be exposed to bright light all night long.
Our poor biological clocks get thrown out of whack by all this. In a very real sense, we are fooling Mother Nature, and, as everyone knows, that's not nice. It's also unhealthy. The most obvious casualty is adequate and restful sleep. With our busy, fast-paced lifestyles, and with deficient levels of melatonin in our systems during the night, we sleep poorly and not enough. The result is a population that is chronically and dangerously sleep-deprived, with consequent fatigue, irritability, depression, impaired reflexes, and susceptibility to accidents, just to name a few. Night-shift work exacerbates most of these problems and is seen as a serious threat to the workers' health. Poor or inadequate sleep can even lead to premature death.1*
*For more on melatonin and sleep, see Melatonin Is Good … for … Zzzz (July 2002), Better Sleep May Mean Longer Life (June 2003), Melatonin Can Reset Your Biological Clock (March 2005), and Had Any Good Sleep Lately? (June 2005).
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
rambutan - a fuzzy fruit
I just tried a rambutan - which was delicious a cousin of lychee both exotic fruit of South America.
I wonder where to get some more, since this was brought in by someone at work.
It tasted similar to lychee, and I opened it with a paring knife exposing it's smooth delicious insides. Looks like it's rich in manganese. I don't have it's full nutrition profile but I am sure it's great to enjoy along with other fruits and vegetables.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Fresh Green Chickpeas
After another trip to the cash and carry market, I came back getting fresh Green Chickpeas (Chana), the frozen version I talked about in this post They look like bright green edamame but peeling the skin you get a fresh chickpea. After tasting them, we agreed that they taste great steamed or raw. My son loved them and snapped them up. Here is a picture Strix also posted about these little gems on her blog with beautiful pictures
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)