Seventh Generation

Got to visit the Wild Oats store in Little Rock.  Bought some buckwheat and sprouted successfully.  The dehydrating/making granola process hasn’t gone quite like I had hoped but practice makes perfect.

Kroger has some Seventh Generation products but Wild Oats had a lot more including chlorine-free disposable diapers (they also had cloth) and wipes (how many moms know they’re putting chlorine on their babies bottoms everyday–I didn’t until recently).   I bought some and see no reason for people not to buy them unless the tan color of the diapers scares you away.  But I’d rather have a drab brown diaper for my daughter than a white toxic one (and it blends in with skin, like a bandaid).  It was $10 for 30 diapers which is a little more expensive than Wal-mart brand but not much more than Pampers.

They also have biodegradable napkins and paper towels bleached with something other than chlorine and non bleached versions.  I don’t know why we have this obsession with white.  Is it worth the cost of our health and our planet to have unblemished shining bright white napkins versus brown, practical ones?  If you really want to get serious, use cloth napkins but otherwise, see if there’s a Wild Oats in your area.

“Campaign for Real Beauty”

Not sure whether to have you watch this first or this.

I don’t pass on pass-it-on-or-you’re-not-a-Christian emails but I’d like to ask readers to pass on the above videos to the women and girls in their lives.

Go Dove.  (The links above are to the Canadian site.)

Busy!

Okay so I failed to write my (real) weekend post. This weekend a good friend of Matthew’s got married in Little Rock and he was in the wedding and we ended up staying the night Friday down there since he had plans for the groomsmen Saturday and since I wanted to give my parents a tour of the rivermarket district . . . I also translated Friday morning so I had no time until today which other than my nap was spent shopping, walking outside in the freezing wind but beautiful sunshine, etc.  I was going to try to write a post now while my family (parents are in town) watches a movie I’ve seen but I remembered I have a Bible study to complete for my women’s group tomorrow so it’s not going to get done.

Stay tuned.

Relief

Yesterday I visited a new doctor. Two hours away but highly recommended and I wasn’t disappointed. For starters, the nurse who took my blood pressure told me that my top number was a little low so I probably need to drink more and then offered to bring me water: cold or room temperature! Wow!

Dr. Jeffery Baker practiced conventionally for years and then started to integrate more and finally decided to stick with just integrative medicine. He spends an hour with you (at least the first time but I think in the future, too) listening to your concerns and then explains and recommends a course of action. I’m having blood work done (6 days after ovulation which confirmed what I had heard for testing hormone levels) which will see what the ratios between estrogen and progesterone are so we know if a progesterone cream would be beneficial and am also recording symptoms over the next 6 weeks so we can see if my levels are overall low or high. The reason the symptoms are a better indication of this than blood tests are two-fold. One is that we are all different so what is normal for one person is not normal for another; he said that we are more different inside than outside! If that’s true there are many implications for healthcare. The second reason is that when you compare someone’s blood to the pool of blood tests to determine if theirs is normal or not, you have to realize that the pool of blood is taken from “sick” people–that is people who go to the doctor; healthy people don’t go to the doctor (there’s a book about this called Normal Blood Tests aren’t Good Enough written by an RN).

We’re also having my thyroid tested. I had been concerned for awhile because of stress (an aggravator of thyroid problems) and weight loss (an indication of thyroid problems) but my regular doctor didn’t see reason to have tests unless I insisted and I didn’t see the point on insisting since it would probably come back “normal” or if it was off they would prescribe a pill. Thyroid problems are not uncommon after pregnancy (which I did not know but I did know it can be related to post partum depression).

We are not having my adrenal system checked because he thinks he knows the outcome and I would bet a lot of money on it, that is that it would show elevated levels of cortisol. Since there is no real way to treat elevated cortisol the only thing we could do is add a component to the progesterone cream which would boost my overall adrenal system and keep it more even (I don’t remember the name of this).

The supplements we discussed were just omega3 and Vitamin B. I knewAmericans were deficient in omega 3, which is an essential fatty acid, but I did not know (or didn’t put it together) that because of breastfeeding (which of course is the best thing you can do for you and your baby healthwise) any levels of omega 3 I had would be further depleted. So Americans need it and breastfeeding moms even more. I had been trying to incorporate it into our diet some through flaxseed but now can feel good about spending the money for a quality omega 3 supplement which will give me more (I don’t like fish; otherwise I might eat fish for every meal . . . well by the time you pay for mercury free fish, you might as well pay for a quality supplement).  Omega 3 has been said to help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, helps arthritis (anti-inflammatory), migraines, depression, ADD and is a cancer preventative.

You cannot use your insurance in Dr. Baker’s office but they give you the paperwork to file with your insurance. So a visit like this could be costly but I think it is well worth it to resolve issues that have bothered me for years and especially lately.

You can find a doctor like Dr. Baker on acam.org. It is up to the doctors to educate themselves on alternative medicine, supplements, etc. so you could still get someone who doesn’t know enough (say who would advocate synthentic vitamins instead of natural or who wouldn’t think to have you be sure your omega 3 was free of mercury or other pesticides) but you would have the security that they are a genuine board-certified doctor versus someone trying to practice with only natural stuff.

I really liked Dr. Baker as a person and he expressed concerns over reducing my stress non-medically as well which impressed me (I guess it goes with the wholistic approach).

I will post more when I get the blood test results and again after my follow up visit.

(One of the services Dr. Baker offers is chelation therapy which I’m not comfortable endorsing at this time although this article explains reasons why it is not more widely accepted.)

If you’re still drinking diet

please read this

Read it anyway so you’re informed about some of the problems in the country’s politics, health system, etc.

The Maker’s Diet

By the way, I thought I’d let my regular readers know that I’m going to try to be more regular. I’d like to post a couple of times a week but I will at least post on the weekends, so if you get tired of checking and there’s nothing there, try on Mondays and there should be something–actually probably several because as I mentioned earlier, when I get in the mood to write, I am in the mood!

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So I finally found time to read Jordan Rubin’s book which Matthew picked up since Annie had mentioned it. Previously we had been trying to follow the South Beach diet but after reading Dr. Mercola’s review, we’re glad to have something better. Jordan reviews diets in his book too which is helpful.

If you don’t read the book you can probably guess that the diet consists of an Old Testament diet based on the title. If you’re a Christian, this should not be a hard thing to swallow. Yes, Peter had a dream where he was told not to call things unclean that had previously been designated as so but if I were to venture a guess I would think it has something to do with “permissible but not benficial” to quote Paul in I Corinthians 10 and also more to do with loving/accepting gentiles than suddenly saying pork was a wonderfood.

So I’ll try to hit some points:

The healthiest people in the world are also the most primitive; the longest-lived cultures in the world have a few things in common as to diet. (When the death rate of primitive cultures is higher than ours say, during infancy, it was largely due to lack of basic sanitation.) Not all primitive diets are alike and cultures like the Chinese which eat anything with four legs that’s not a table, don’t have the same advantage.

The top ten leading causes of hospitalizations include obesity, diabetes, hemorrhoids, heart attacks, diverticulosis, cancer, ulcer, hernia, appendicitis and gallstones. These are lifestyle diseases, greatly influenced by diet.

“We process food so it will last for decades on a store shelf. (You can purchase [ . . ] a twenty-five-year-old prepackaged snack cake.) [. . . ]bioengineered grains and fruits are offered to unsuspecting consumers in America’s largest grocery stores–usually with no notice or explanation.”

Jordan quotes Elmer Josephson’s God’s Key to Health and Happiness and I paraphrase: Unclean animals like pigs are scavengers, they are meat-eating animals that clean up anything that is left dead in the fields. The flesh of the swine is saidto be the prime cause of much of our American ill health, causing blood diseases, weakness of the stomach, liver troubles, eczema, consumption, tumors, cancer, etc. Science discovers shellfish to be lumps of devitalized and disease producing filth, because of inadequate excretion. These are the scavengers of the seas.

I know. I like shrimp so this doesn’t make me smile.

Pigs “will eat anything they can find–including their own young and sick or dead pigs from the same pen.”

Josephson again: “Four hours after the pig has eaten his polluted swill and other putrid, offensive matter, man may eat the same [swill] second handed off the ribs of the pig.”

Well, I’m a Texan (sort of) and we eat beef ribs

Michael Jacobson notes that the Jews didn’t die of the plague in the numbers that the rest of Europe did (which led them to be persecuted because people thought they were the cause of it). This is due to their diet and hygiene practices.

“Scientist gauge the contaminante levels of our oceans, bays, rivers, and lakes by measuring the mercury and biological toxin levels in the flesh of crabs, clams, oysters, and lobsters.”

So maybe all the above is why God said no to pigs and shellfish; he wanted someone left alive to make it to the promised land.  (I should mention that if you’re not eating organic beef, your beef probably ate dead things too but normally a cow would not whereas a pig would.)

Did you know you have two brains? Your gut is your second brain; it is the other nervous sytem that forms during fetal development. The same number of neurotransmitters line the gut as the brain (which is one reason why anti-depressants can be a problem because they redirect serotonin to the brain and leave your GI tract helpless).

Other points:
Fluoride is now thought to be poisonous. Find a fluoride-free toothpaste.

Showering robs your body of natural oils that are part of your immune system and can alter your body’s pH balance so find soaps and shampoos that are pH Balanced.

Mercury cavities pose problems, one of them being allergies.

I had heard that women should wear bras to bed so that their breasts don’t sag over time but Jordan says the body’s lymph system is crucial to the immune system and the lymph nodes should not be compressed since it decreases the body’s ability to clean so no bras to bed!

I could write more but this is long enough. In another post I will give the websites of helpful resources.

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Jordan developed Crohn’s disease in college and has a terrible journey to tell of trying everything to get well. The Maker’s Diet is the only thing that worked. Crohn’s is “incurable” but he no longer has Crohn’s disease. (He also has a PhD in naturopathic medicine so it’s not all experience.)

If you’re serious about cooking healthy . . .

get Serene Allison’s Rejuvenate Your Life from the Above Rubies website. I wish I had gotten it the first time Annie mentioned it. Americans don’t eat enough raw food.  She advocates eating about 85% of your diet raw which is too extreme (there can be health problems on either extreme) but even if you only do 25% of your diet raw, you will want her recipes and the knowledge in the book. Also, if you don’t have one, get an amazon wish list, and add from the following list the appliances you need and email the list to your family: blender, excalibur dehydrator (you could also add a cheaper dehydrator until someone can afford the excalibur) , coffee grinder, food processor, garlic press, salad spinner. Serene also says a juicer and a saladacco spiralizer. Whole food people are against a lot of juicing so I guess that depends on where you stand. And only if you like pretend pasta made from vegetables would you want the spiralizer which you can order from www.rawfood.com

You will also probably need a book on sprouting. I was hoping Serene would have enough information but the biggest help she has is the method of using colanders. (I’m going to have to get one with more holes.) I thought I read/hear that you can’t just buy a grain and sprout it, that there are sprouting grains and non-sprouting even of the same kind, like sprouting wheat and non-sprouting wheat (for example, I don’t know about wheat). Also, Ruth Yaron mentions that some sprouts have to be cooked before eating because of harmful enzymes. She recommends Sprout it! by Steve Meyerowitz so I guess I’ll add that to my wish list. Argh. I’m so ready to just do everything. We’ve been making changes but I’m going to have to wait on some things until I get a food processor and the sprouting book. Maybe I can research enough to just sprout buckwheat and regular wheat so I don’t have to wait.

If you’re wondering about sprouts, don’t think the alfalfa kind you put on a sandwich. You can make crackers and many other things with sprouts. You can dry and grind and make a healthy flour. I can’t wait!

Thank goodness for people like Serene who are creative in the kitchen. It’s like she’s composing music. It’s nice to have pretty music for challenged people like me who have to play for our family everyday.

Soy revisited

After more thought and more research, I am withdrawing my endorsement of Shaklee’s soy protein. There is too much controversy so I’d rather play it safe. I get a lot of hits on my site from people googling soy and they need to know that although some say that the isoflavones and phytoestrogens reduce the risk of cancer, others say they cause cancer. Here is the original post that still has six valid points when it comes to soy.

 

 

Exercise outdoors!

This is easier than you think. This summer we hardly spent anytime outside because I woulnd’t think about it until 3 or 4 and no one wants to be outside in the afternoon in Arkansas during the summer. But when the summer was almost over, I got organized and started taking Elisa to the park around 9:00. It can be fairly warm then, too, but the point is, unless you have to exercise at 3:00, you should be able to do it outdoors. We need time outdoors (if you don’t believe me I’ll write all about indoor air quality with chemicals and tight insulation and mold in old buildings, etc. not to mention Vitamin D and nature . . . ) and we need to exercise so you can kill two birds with one stone and do it for free instead of paying a gym to breathe their stale air.

Not long ago, I was trying to think of exercises we could do as a family because it seemed we would be more consistent than Matthew trying to do one thing and me another. I wrote down every sport/activity I could think of and made pro/con lists. I came up with running and biking which are things Matthew was interested in anyway. So I bought an approripate pair of running shoes, we decided on 7 AM since that’s the best time for Matthew and hit the road (after reading how to get started in Matthew’s running book so I wouldn’t get injured or push too hard at the beginning). I thought eventually we might alternate with biking but now that I have a bike and bike trailer for Elisa I think I will bike exclusively because my left leg kept hurting after running and I think the cambered road is why. I tried to switch sides of the road thinking I could even it out but wasn’t having any luck. We could go to any number of places in town with flat trails but that involves more time which would mean there would be mornings we would skip out. So biking it is and 1 mile is killing me on the easiest speed. I hope I’ll get better soon.

I’m also making a point of taking Elisa to the park regularly so she’s exercising outdoors, too!

Let’s get social

UPDATE:  When I first posted this I said free trade but meant fair trade.  Free trade might be good, too, but is something different.

Krista & I got to visit Heifer International while she was here. I’ve been wanting to go ever since we moved here and I found out it’s only about an hour away but it hadn’t worked out. I was really impressed. I knew they gave animals to poor people in many nations so they can use the animals for milk and their offspring for food but I didn’t know how it was started or how thorough they are. I mean they have thought of everything. No half done job here. They purchase the animals in the country of their destination which saves on cost and helps the local economy (they didn’t do this initially), the families have to prove they can take care of the animal (so they don’t eat it right away and can’t use it to sustain themselves), they have to pass on the firstborn female so they help others and more are helped, the ranch here in Arkansas is self-sustaining so when people give it goes directly to getting people animals, the ranch uses a lot of recycled materials . . . . I could go on and on. It was started by a Christian though I don’t think the gospel is part of the package now. But they are still showing God’s grace to people even if they don’t know it!

The thoroughness and success of Heifer makes me wonder what all is possible. For instance, here in the US, instead of giving canned food to poor people (which is short-sighted and since the food is processed doesn’t help them physically) couldn’t churches help people learn to budget, give cooking lessons about stuff I’m learning like sprouting, dehydrating, etc, get them interested in exercise like running, biking, etc (a church in Georgia–I think–started a neighborhood exercise program or something like that; it’s been a few years since I heard it) . . . . not that churches should focus on this to the neglect of the gospel but if they’re going to do anything social this is an idea. But when I think about it, it seems impossible. How on earth do you teach multiple families who are generally not well educated to budget. One family, yes, because you could get very detailed, but in a class? That could become a huge task. But maybe it’s doable. Paying for people to take Dave Ramsey’s seminar is one idea. I just wonder. . .

Recently, Matthew & I watched the Ron Clark story on tv and also rented Take the Lead. I love movies like this, true stories of someone making a difference. Not someone who tried but tripped over their own ego or obstacles but someone who tried, persevered and succeeded.

Krista and I also got to visit Little Rock’s rivermarket district which is really cool and I’d be there all the time if I lived there. One of the stores was called Ten Thousand Villages (which she was familiar with) which is a fair trade (at first I put free trade but that is something different) store and another story of someone’s success at helping people.

I like Target and, at times, Wal-Mart but I realized that we as consumers never ask how this stuff is made; we just like the price. Then something comes out on the news about how such and such is made by child slaves and we go into shock and protest (well, some remain indifferent) but we only protest so much because we worry about our own pocket book. Well, if the church started teaching people sound financial principles and how to budget, people might be able to purchase things based on principle instead of price. Of course, one asks, how do you do that? The Bible says a lot about money but you also need practical advice since car loans and credit cards didn’t exist back in Jesus’ day. Crown Ministries has done a lot of good but my parents said Dave Ramsey is even more practical. Personally, I think every church needs to do his seminar or a similar one. God obviously wants people to be frugal with money or there wouldn’t be so many Bible verses on it.

Of course, to vote with principles we would have to start educating ourselves and asking questions. Other examples are diamonds and chocolate. Who knew before reports came out on tv that the rings on most married women’s fingers came to them because some kid got his leg cut off in Sierra Leone? Or that drinking coffee or eating chocolate means you’re supporting child slavery? “People who are drinking cocoa or coffee are drinking their blood,” he said. “It is the blood of young children carrying 6kg of cocoa sacks so heavy that they have wounds all over their shoulders. It’s really pitiful to see. If you drink coffee or eat a lot of chocolate, please find a natural food store where you can get them fair trade.

Let’s stop burying our heads in the sand and all become like Sandra Bullock in 2 Weeks Notice. I’m not talking about getting political; there’s a place for that but politics are so screwed up, you’ve got to vote with your wallet. I’ve read a couple of books by Bernard Goldberg that confirmed in my mind how bad Democrats are but recently it occurred to me that Republicans are no better. Politics are too dirty for anyone to remain clean at a certain level.

This has been a post full of several different things. Here’s to tie it up, make this year different. Instead of spending money on insignificant gifts this Christmas, change someone’s life for the better: get an unhealthy person The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin or a cookbook like Nourishing Traditions or Rejuvenate Your Life, or get anyone Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover or give money to Heifer in the name of your loved one, buy them fair trade chocolate and coffee, or buy them something from Ten Thousand Villages. Let’s see what happens.