Back to School? Time to Kick Food Choices Up a Notch!

Oh, the flurry of excitement of back to school time!

Shiny, new school supplies and autumn clothes.  Let’s take this opportunity to make a fresh start with our children’s meals as well.

I urge my students to reassess their dietary habits yearly,  just like a corporation regularly evaluates its efficiency and productivity.  I urge you to clean house and consider potential culprits that may be silently attacking your child’s health.

Too many refined carbohydrates are detrimental to good health and one of the worst offenders is gluten-laden foods.

I know, I know.  Cakes, cookies, biscuits and such are attractive, tasty and inexpensive, but if your child can’t overcome certain health challenges, including emotional and/or intellectual ones, these might be likely to blame.

I often recommend that a child abstain from ALL gluten products for 60 days.  I don’t mean fewer of these products, or smaller bites of them.  I mean totally eliminate them from his diet.

Unfortunately, this means not only  Cap’n Crunch has to go, but otherwise wholesome oats, wheat, spelt and rye must be eliminated as well.  Instead, try delicious hot cereals such as teff or quinoa; they make a lovely breakfast along with eggs.

Substitute rice pasta for wheat/semolina.   Tinkyada Brand is good source of many kinds of pasta.

As an Italian American, I can tell you that if you cook this pasta according to the directions, it tastes authentic.

After the 60 day fast, allow your child a gluten feast!   For example, give him wheat toast for breakfast, a wheat bread sandwich for lunch, a bagel for a snack, and pasta for dinner.

Now watch his behavior, sleep, respiratory and gastrointestinal activity.   Note his energy, his color, and his odor.  Is there darkness under his eyes?   Is he wiggly, itchy, too chilly or warm?

If you notice any of these changes after gluten has been reintroduced into his diet,  then you will know that the child is sensitive to gluten and must be kept away from it.   The same experiment can be done for any suspected food sensitivity such as pasteurized dairy products, sugar cane, corn syrup, dyes or preservative-laden foods, etc.

Here’s a powerful clue: the food that most often does the worst harm is the one that’s the most craved.  Does your child cry or carry on when you tell him he must have eggs instead of toast?  If so, then regard gluten a possible culprit.

Homeopathy has a history of resolving the problem.  If gluten intolerance is part of the family history–something that his father and grandmother have– he’ll still be able, in large part, to overcome this tendency.  It’s a matter of selecting the correct and deep-acting constitutional remedy that is person specific.

Interestingly, in my experience, I’ve observed a proclivity for gluten intolerance more often in Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans.  I’ve also noted that many children don’t present this problem until they’ve been treated with antibiotics, vaccinations or the like.

If you’re working with a classical homeopath, every symptom, no matter how minute, is important to disclose; it will help your homeopath determine the constitutional remedy that will uproot the propensity for this problem in the first place.

After all, getting to the bottom of the problem is what homeopathy does best!

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Nutrition is fundamental to the work I do with homeopathy!  Read more about how the correct remedy helped to bring Liz's diet into alignment here.  Lots more articles and free information on homeopathyworks.net.

 

 

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Clean Living and Adherence to Judeo-Christian Principles are Foundational to Health

There are many homeopaths who don’t offer a glimpse into their lifestyles and choices.

 

I’m not one of them.

 

Instead, I share my beliefs and values on mothering, family traditions, living a natural lifestyle, and cooking nutrient-dense meals in whatever I write, in whatever I say, and in whatever I teach. This includes prayer. I do this because I genuinely believe that’s what it takes to find genuine health.

 

Daily, I meet with clients and students from all over the globe who have made poor choices, usually because the right choice was inconvenient.  Today their health is suffering from those decisions.  More effort is required to seek out health-promoting choices, but the reward is great.

 

This certainly doesn’t apply to everyone, but more and more, I see the ramifications of these poor choices especially in our Western society.  Get our morality straight and health often follows.  Tinker with Mother Nature and the mores and principles of our beliefs, and we will suffer.

 

That, in my estimation, is  why Judeo-Christian traditions hold so much wisdom when it comes to genuine health.

 

I believe the world is hungry for time-honored values.  And to me, silence in regards to this message is irresponsible.

 

I estimate that with this type of message, I will turn some readers off and lose them.  Others will employ these ideas and pass them on.  And  some will simply read and do nothing.

 

For me, it’s a chance worth taking.  I will do whatever I can to spread the truth of how to achieve genuine health.

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Interested in hearing more about my homeopathic journey and philosophy?  Check out my story on my website homeopathyworks.net.

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Do As You’re Told! The Flu, Flu Shots, and Homeopathy

There was a time when we did as we were told.  We listened to our parents, teachers, and authority in all its faces and adhered to the rules of the day.  As youngsters it was an appropriate and accepted way of conduct.

Today, much of what we were taught has been turned upside down.  The voice of today’s society rings of topsy-turvy counsel.  Instead of work first and play later, our world entreats us to play first.

Instead of buying a home that we can afford, we’re encouraged to borrow beyond our means.  Instead of firm discipline in the home, we’re directed by faddish psycho-babble to give our kids “space” and privacy.

I say it’s time to turn back the clock…or perhaps swing it forward.  Whatever the direction, it’s time we take back control of our lives and use common horse sense.

For example, does it make sense to get a flu shot that may be made from the wrong strain?

This is a frequent occurrence. Since the epidemiologists do not know which strain is forthcoming each flu season, they make a soup of the latest microorganisms.  Then it’s injected directly into the bloodstream.

Interestingly, many who are vaccinated get the flu anyway—either in spite of or perhaps because of the vaccine itself.

And, what about the connection between the flu shot and muscle pain?  It has been clinically noted that when healthy patients yield to flu shots in autumn, they succumb to fibromyalgia by winter or spring.

Fibromyalgia is one of the symptoms of the flu!

Remember the achy joints and bones that come with the flu?  That’s fibromyalgia. The short-lived achiness that accompanies the flu becomes a full-fledged chronic condition when the immune system is tampered with as it is with a vaccine.

Indeed, I think we’ve lost perspective.

Why not simply take a gentle homeopathic remedy that works better and more delicately and politely on the system?

Consider Oscillococcinum (pronounced: oh-sill-oh-cock-sign-um).  It happens to be the #1 over-the-counter and prescription medication in France—a place where homeopathy is highly regarded by the medical profession as well as by lay people.

But the reason for its popularity is simple–it works.

Oscillococcinum is made from the heart and liver of a waterfowl, and is particularly useful for the onset of colds and flu that come on in the wet season, such as in fall or spring.

If taken at the onset of a cold, it will usually stop it dead in its tracks.

But here is the best part: if taken as a prophylactic, say, once per week for four weeks and then once each month until the flu season is over, it will usually  protect you and your family from the flu.

If indeed the person still gets a cold or flu after taking this remedy, it will often ensure a much milder episode.

This is rational medicine.

No drugs.

No side effects.

No questionable ingredients.

Do you need another reason to take this remedy?

How about a cost of less than $19?

I certainly wouldn’t want to dictate what you ought to do for the upcoming season.

That would put me in the same category as proselytizing drug manufacturers. However, this little lesson may just convince the staunchest advocates of modern medicine of the power of homeopathy.

Consider each and decide for yourself.

Drugs or homeopathy?

For my clients, family and me, the decision is straightforward– homeopathy for gentler, more capable results.

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For more info on how to be prepared to handle the flu with homeopathy and common sense check out the free download Ahh Choo!! The Flu on my website homeopathyworks.net.

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Plump, Happy, Colorful Eggs!

For a growing family, I can’t think of a more perfect food than eggs.  Rich in fat-soluble vitamins like A and D, eggs are an economical source of complete protein.

But beware: all eggs are not created equal.  I wanted to share these pictures with you to show the comparison between the fresh eggs from our own flock of chickens on the left and the commercial imitation of an egg available at your local supermarket on the right.

Notice how the egg yolk from a hen raised on pasture is a deep orange compared to the pale yellow commercial yolk.  It is actually shocking how bright the color is when you first start eating pasture-raised eggs.

Some friends have even questioned whether something was wrong with the eggs they were served because they were so orange! Imagine their horror when they found out the diet that had produced such “unnaturally” colored eggs: bugs and vegetable trimmings destined for the compost pile.  This color is a sign of the nutrient-rich diet my hens have been enjoying and the health benefits passed on to my family when we eat these delicious eggs.

Even the egg whites are different.  Did you know that the white should actually be composed of two distinct parts?  There is a firmer inner ring surrounding the yolk and a thinner portion that spreads out at the edges.  Most people don’t know this since you can’t detect it in factory-farmed eggs, but I think the picture above illustrates it well.  Give these high-quality egg whites a try for the most fabulously textured meringues you have ever eaten!

What you can’t see in these two eggs are the vast differences in nutritional quality.  When hens are allowed to feed on grass and insects as they were designed to do, they produce eggs high in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.  Commercial feeding practices, however, lead to eggs with high omega-6 fatty acids, but little omega-3s.  The modern western diet already provides a dangerously high amount of omega-6s at the expense of omega-3s due to our high consumption of refined vegetable oils.

High omega-3 content is why Asian societies consider eggs to be a brain food.  In fact, pregnant Chinese women often eat up to a dozen eggs per day and tests reveal their breast milk to be incredibly high in DHA, a fatty acid important for the brain development of their babies.

What about cholesterol, you might ask?  Numerous studies cited in Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions have found that cholesterol levels do not rise with egg consumption.  In fact, eggs are a great source of choline, a B-vitamin that helps cholesterol stay moving in the blood stream.  The cholesterol found in eggs plays a key role in brain development and forms the building blocks for hormones.  From the age of four months on, it is actually a great idea to feed your child a cooked, mashed egg yolk a day.  Wait until your baby is at least a year old before feeding egg whites, which contain proteins that are difficult for babies to digest.

Let me share a quick way to get more of this nutritional powerhouse into your diet.  Add a raw egg yolk to your smoothies. Rest assured that eggs from pasture-raised chickens pose little threat of salmonella poisoning.  Even so, you should wash the shell with hot, soapy water before using them raw and please only use pastured-raised eggs for this purpose.  Commercial eggs are much too dangerous to eat raw because the chickens that laid them have been heavily treated with antibiotics.

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Check out my downloadable CD Secret Spoonfuls: Confessions of a Sneaky Mom to find tons more tips on getting your youngsters to eat nutritious foods that taste great.  Lots more free articles and info on my website homeopathyworks.net.

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17 Tips for Achieving Genuine Health

(Or, how I found mine after years of illness) 

As a busy homeopath and mother, I understand how precious of a commodity time is for all of us.   After detours, mistakes, and years of searching for the healthiest ways of living, I’ve distilled my research and time-tested tips to a simple seventeen. Here are my top all-time favorites.

1)      Stay calm. The world is not as scary a place as the media and other self-serving entities might lead us to believe. When I am anxious or worried I repeat a passage from Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.”  To know that God is protecting all of us, gives me inner peace.  No matter who you believe God to be, pray or meditate daily. If you’re Catholic, say your rosary. If you’re Protestant, read your Bible. If you’re Jewish, study your teachings. Don’t miss out on the importance of faith.

2)     Don’t watch TV or spend unproductive time on the internet. After working in the field of media, I learned that it is not in your best interest to be subjected to most forms of media as a steady diet. Protect your children from the barrage as well.

3)     Eat like your great-grandparents did. Eat whole, real, and unprocessed foods. Make your meals yourself from single, basic ingredients. It takes longer, but the rewards are worth the effort. There is something therapeutic about chopping fresh vegetables and creating soup from homemade bone stock. And you’ll earn a reputation as a good cook!

4)     Learn enough homeopathy to be able to treat yourself and your family for life’s little unknowns. The more you know, the more you’ll want to know. Homeopathy is timeless and enduring. At the very least, find yourself a credentialed, experienced homeopath and use his/her services liberally.

5)     Stay away from conventional medications as much as possible. Most meds are dangerous and at best superfluous. Every dubious drug has a healthy counterpart either in homeopathy, in food,  or in an herb (My CD “Homeopathy First Aid: Perform in the Storm” is available on my website).  Learn the safe alternatives and use them with confidence.  Save the use of modern drugs for life-threatening situations only.

6)     Get fresh air and direct sunshine at least 30 minutes daily. Throw out the sunscreen. Have you read the ingredients? Sun screen inhibits your body’s natural mechanism to make Vitamin D and is loaded with chemicals not meant to be slathered on the skin. Instead, if needed, protect your skin the old-fashioned way: a hat, cover-up, and common sense.

7)     Get some exercise. I realize how trite this statement sounds, but after years of resisting exercise myself because of time constraints, I’ve come to learn that I’m more productive and happier when I work out. Even a short walk is good enough.

8)    If possible, keep a garden and animals. A flower or vegetable garden can be a sight for emotionally sore eyes.  A pet can bring a smile to your face. They keep us closer to what is important in life: simple pleasures.

9)  Protect your family and the integrity of the family in our society. That means your marriage and the marriages of those around you. A unified family is the basis of a healthy, prosperous and creative society.

10)  Keep your exposure to electromagnetic fields to a minimum. Use the speaker function on your cell phone instead of holding it up to your ear.

11)  Expose yourself and family to the intelligent, creative, and lofty influences of our society. By listening to classical music, reading fine literature, viewing fine art, we are inspired to greatness ourselves. Then emulate and study those who have led successful and creative lives: Mother Teresa, Benjamin Franklin, Gandhi, Churchill, and Beethoven.

12) Keep family traditions.  Whether they’re based on your religion or created by you, they are important for carrying family into the next generation.  If you don’t have any or enough, the way to establish them is by repeating a meaningful activity, time and again.

13) Eat and drink raw dairy products from animals that are pasture fed and preferably organic such as raw sheep’s milk cheese from Italy, raw goat and cow’s milk from France, Denmark, Ireland, and sometimes the United States.

14) Eat organic. At least as much as possible, buy or grow your own vegetables and eat meat from pasture fed animals. In other words, support local, organic, family farms.  Your liver will thank you too.

15)  Include some fermented food or drink with every meal. Old fashioned sauerkraut, pickles, yogurt, kefir, kombucha, fermented carrots, and so on. They provide live enzymes that help us break down the cooked foods we eat. They are excellent for intestinal disorders and are utilized by the healthiest people on the earth.

16) Try to eat raw food at least 80% of the time.   This is not as difficult as one would imagine: drink raw milk, eat fermented and fresh vegetables, dehydrated nuts and seeds,  and incorporate raw yogurt, cheese and butter into your diet.

17)  Do good work. Prepare your food and nurse your family with pride. Whatever it is you choose to do, do it with aplomb, commitment and joy.

These are the tips that have helped me and my family live lives full of vitality and vigor.  What tips have you discovered to maintain your own good health?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________These are just a few of my tips for vibrant health.  Lots more on my website homeopathyworks.net.  Check out this link to read many more of my articles.  Or call (716) 941-1045 to schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation to see how homeopathy could fit with your health strategy.

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Lessons in Parenting, Bird Style

These cheeping babies outside my door have made me aware of their presence lately by their constant squawking.  Not to get too philosophical, but passing by them the other day made me stop and ponder our role as parents.

Like these little birds, our children are completely dependent on us.  If the mama bird doesn’t bring back a nutritious dinner of insects and worms, these babies won’t grow.

It’s that simple; they are helpless without her.

We, too, have a crucial responsibility to provide our children with nourishment and care.  This idea seems facile, but how often do we really consider the enormous weight of our everyday decisions?

I’m thrilled that I knew about the discoveries of Dr. Weston A. Price since the time my kids were small. His invaluable nutritional wisdom and common sense continue to inspire and guide me in making healthy food choices for my family. 

Another thing that struck me about this humble robin’s nest was the confidence of the mother bird.  She instinctively knew how to construct a safe dwelling for her babies.

The incredible ruckus she sets up whenever anyone approaches the nest illustrates how protective of a mother she is.

Why then are we as parents frequently afraid to stand up for the health of our children?

Whether it means questioning a doctor who assures us that the antibiotic prescribed for our child is really very “mild” or convincing Grandma that strawberry Pop Tarts don’t count as a serving of fruit, we need to feel confident enough of our parental authority to take a stand when our gut tells us something isn’t right.

Homeopathy has helped me more than anything else to feel secure in my God-given role as a mother.  Just knowing that I possessed the ability to cure an ear infection, or sore throat, or even halt an allergic reaction imbued me with a feeling close to euphoria.

You’ll no doubt experience it too, the first time you witness the effects of your well-chosen homeopathic remedy.

Over the years, it has become my mission to empower moms and dads to do what this little bird has done and take the health of our children into our own hands.  It can be as simple as owning a homeopathic remedy kit and a comprehensive book and/or taking a good course.

If you’re serious about increasing your knowledge, my year-long course for parents might be a good fit for you.  Classes have started, but we would be glad to get you up to date with the material.

We have no choice. If we bring them into the world, we must do what we know is right.

Committed parenting.

Homeopathy.

Whole nutrition.

Once you know this, you have to do what’s right.

That’s all there is to it!

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Don't wait!  Start taking charge of your family's health now by checking out the many free downloads on my website http://homeopathyworks.net like this handy first-aid chart.

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Pond Perfect

I make no apologies.

I’ve always hated exercise.

It’s tedious.

 

I beg  forgiveness from those of you who are ardent sports enthusiasts, but despite many attempts,  nothing’s quite stuck.

 

Running? Not my style.

Yoga?  Too still for me.

Swimming?  The chlorine negates any benefits the exercise might offer.

Exercise classes?  I hate to be a music snob, but I’ve always found the music to sound like elevator music.

 

For years my husband and I took ball room dancing, and that’s where I found nirvana.  The music, the party atmosphere, the required attention to detail and then oh, the movements…I loved it all.

 

Unfortunately, this particular exercise requires a partner and my husband is not always willing.  So I’ve had to find another way to move after a day on Skype and writing at my keyboard.

 

Two years ago, we built an acre pond that finally allowed me to find exercise bliss.

 

The weather here in New York has been gorgeous lately and I’ve had swimming thoughts upon which I’ve recently been acting.

 

My family completed building a dock last week, hence I don’t need to wade into ankle-deep muck.

 

So I’m swimming daily!

 

And it isn’t even boring.  We have domestic ducks who quack at me from the marshy side of the pond and the frogs croak out the bass as I paddle by their quarters.

 

If I go early in the morning, I get a great jump on my day.

 

I think I’ve found my niche!

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