Smiling and Longevity

"You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart. Then people gonna treat you better, you're gonna find, yes you will, that you're beautiful as you feel." ~Carol King 

Facial Expressions are the mirror of our inner emotional landscape.  Try this right now, while you read this.  Smile. I  mean really smile: feel the corners of your mouth lifting and your eyebrows arching.  Maybe you will even feel your scalp move or cheekbones lift.  Now imagine how you must look while you are doing this: smiling like crazy whilst you look at your computer... you might even be able to see your reflection in your monitor... and perhaps you will smile even more!.  Smiling breeds smiling, in yourself and others around you.  It sounds silly but it's simple, and true.  I have been experimenting on myself.  When I notice my brow furrowing I actively lift the muscles in my forehead and immediately start to feel better.  The neuronal pathways associated with smiling are also associated with good feelings.  You can actually change the way you feel by simply smiling.

The Journal Psychological Science recently reported that the length of one's smile may dictate the length of one's life.  Researchers from Wayne State University examined Baseball Register photos of 230 Major League Baseball Players who started playing before 1950.  The researchers classified each smile into one of three categories: non-smilers; partial smile - where the muscles around their mouths were only slightly raised; and "full smile" or Duchenne smile: wide grin, both cheeks raised.

Of the three categories who lived the longest?  You guessed it, the smilers.  The non-smilers lived an average of 72.9 years, the partial smilers lived an average of 75 years, and the biggest smilers lived the longest, 79.9 years.  Interestingly, the researchers also did a follow-up study with the same baseball players exploring attractivenesss and longevity, and found that good looks did not correlate with a longer life.  This hearkens back to Carol King's lyric "you're beautiful as you feel."

We have long sensed the benefits of laughter and humor in our lives, now science is bearing out our suspicions.  Laughter reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn stimulates the immune system and lowers blood pressure.  After a good long laugh have you ever felt soreness in your muscles?  Laughter gives your diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles a workout. Researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike!  A good laugh enhances oxygen intake, stimulates the heart and lungs, relaxes muscles, triggers the release of endorphins, eases digestion, improves mental alertness and creativity, improves sleep, the list goes on. 

  

If you need something to help you get into the mood, check out this great old clip from the classic television show The Odd Couple.  As a child I saw this episode and thought it was so funny to see the fastidious, grown-up Felix writing such a banal and silly song, and then commandeering all of his friends to perform it with him.  The mere sight of Oscar Madison on tambourine is reason alone to watch.  Felix's song "Happy and Peppy and Bursting with Love" is a mantra in our family. When my kids start to get cranky with each other, or when someone in our family is slipping into the scowl of crankiness, one of us might ask the other "Happy and Peppy and Bursting With Love?"  It is usually so out of context for the moment that it changes the vibe and the next thing we know we are smiling. 

(If you need some more help, here is a clip of Will Ferrell as George W. Bush discussing global warming.  I laughed so hard this morning when I watched this I cried...)

And Now We Love Bob's Red Mill Even More...

My love affair with the local whole grains natural food company Bob's Red Mill began 8 years ago with my family's decision to eat less gluten. For one who has always baked, the thought of living without chocolate chip cookies was more than I could endure.  Enter Bob's then limited array of gluten-free baking flours and the baking experiments ensued.  We quickly learned that one can only do so much with rice and tapioca flours; as "creative" as I was, my family was patient.  Over the years as we have become completely gluten-free, Bob's gluten-free product line has increased dramatically.  I am so thankful for the creative array of delicious gluten-free choices that are now available; thanks to this company the products of my gluten-free baking efforts are hard to discern from those containing gluten.  

My husband is an investment advisor and will often share information about a company's business practices that would otherwise not make it onto my radar. These tidbits will give me an insight into the soul of the company and will infuence my buying decisions.  A couple weeks ago he shared with me a heartwarming and surprising business story about Bob's Red Mill. 

Bob Moore founded his local stone ground whole grain milling company in 1978 after retiring to Oregon from California.  When he happened upon a closed mill site in Oregon City one fateful day, retirement suddenly forgotten, Bob founded what is now known as Bob's Red Mill.  Over the years Bob has seen his company grow to 400 products and 209 employees.

For his 81st birthday Bob did a very generous and surprising thing, he gifted the company to his employees.  He created an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) enabling all 209 employees to be rewarded for Bob's ongoing success and growth.  The best part about this story is that the company had declined many offers to sell for a very high price tag.  To Bob and his partners, the company represents much more than money. 

In Bob's words:

"It's been my dream all along to turn this company over to the employees, and to make that dream a reality is very, very special to me.  This is the ultimate way to keep this business moving forward. I get to spend every day with our many loyal and long-time employees who will now share in ownership, and it just thrills me to know they will be joined by many new faces over the years."  

I felt that it was important to share this story in hopes that it will influence my readers to show support for a local, sustainable, employee-owned company with their food dollars.  Knowing that Bob Moore's primary goals in business are empowerment of his employees and making the world a healthier place, I am truly inspired. 

Next time you are browsing the baking aisle check out some of my favorite Bob's gluten-free products:  the garbanzo-bean based GF All Purpose Baking Mix and the GF Biscuit and Baking Mix, both of which I substitute for flour in my favorite recipes;  GF Oatmeal and Golden Flaxseeds both of which, when soaked overnight, make an instant breakfast food; and the sinfully delicious GF Brownie Mix.  Click here for a listing of all of Bob's gluten-free flours. 

The Truth About BPA in Our Food

 BPA (Bisphenol-A) is a chemical found in many plastics including water bottles, infant formula cans, baby bottles and in the lining of food cans.  Science has recently become interested in this chemical and has started to watch it more closely, as a result we have learned that it readily leaches into food.  Unfortunately BPA is a nasty hormone disruptor that has been linked to cancer, obesity, reproductive problems, heart disease, diabetes, liver abnormalities, attention deficit disorder, early puberty in girls, the list goes on and on.  Studies are ongoing and repeatedly this ubiquitous chemical is proving to be foe to human and animal alike.  

The Bad News:

Canned food is the predominant but not exclusive source of daily BPA exposure.  It is also found in hard, clear plastic food containers including baby bottles, sippy cups, water bottles and polycarbonate plastics (often marked with the number 7) that are rigid and clear such as food storage containers and microwavable containers.  It is also found in many children's toys, and dental fillings and sealants.  

BPA is in every single canned food on the market with these three exceptions:

1. Eden Organic Beans including Chili, Rice and Beans, Refried, and Flavored.  All other Eden canned foods contain BPA  
2. Henry & Lisa`s Natural Seafood (Sashimi-Grade Canned Albacore Tuna) 
3. Vital Choice’s Canned Fish Products  

Yes, you read correctly, these are the ONLY canned foods on the market that do not contain BPA.  EVERYTHING ELSE DOES!!!  

BPA leaches from plastic and from the lining of cans into the food stored in those containers.  Consumer Reports did a recent report measuring the levels of BPA in several different kinds of food and brands of canned food on the market. The results are abysmal as it was present in everything they tested including baby food and children’s juices .  

I find this very disheartening. To be honest, I have known of the threat of BPA for a few years and actively commenced to “purge” my home of BPA containing plastics, but didn’t have the energy or the headspace to address the canned food issue too.  I also had myself convinced that I rarely use canned foods.  I have since leveled with myself and now have an honest perspective of my canned food usage (the culprits being mostly pumpkin for pies and puddings, and tomato products for stews, soups, crock pot recipes, etc).  Fortunately BPA is rapidly metabolized and excreted from the body which can ease one's mind for the occasional exposure to BPA; the real concern being for people who regularly consume canned food products and microwaveable foods containing BPA where blood levels can become "chronic" as the body doesn't have time to clear it.  These folks along with young babies and babies in utero are at the greatest risk for negative health ramifications.

The Good News:

Thanks to environmental watchdog groups like the Oregon Environmental Council and the Environmental Working Group, there is a growing awareness of the contamination of our food with BPA and consumers and lawmakers alike are taking notice.  Canada announced plans in 2008 to ban BPA in baby bottles and in 2009 Connecticut, Minnesota, Suffolk County NY and the City of Chicago passed legislation eliminating BPA from Children’s products.  The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued a warning to pregnant and breast feeding women and children under the age of two to avoid BPA. 

Currently there is a bill before the Oregon legislature, Senate Bill 1032, that attempts to ban BPA in the food and containers used by children under the age of 3.  If you are a resident of Oregon please click here to register your vote with lawmakers to ban this harmful chemical. 

What are the alternatives to BPA? 

There is always good old fashioned glass, which is among the safest way to buy commercial tomato products.  Tomato products are the most BPA-laden canned food due to their acidity and ability to pull the BPA out of the lining of food containers. I have been able to find Bionaturae organic tomato paste and strained tomatoes in glass jars at our local healthy market and I know that these products are available to buy online by the case.  The best deal that I have found online is through the Tropical Traditions website.  Also there are Pomi Tomatoes in a Tetra Pak (not organic) and good ol’ Trader Joe’s has many tomato products available in Tetra Paks including tomato sauce and soups, all of which are BPA-free.

The BPA-free can that Eden and the other companies listed above use ia a lead-free covered steel can coated with a baked-on oleo-resinous enamel lining.  Oleoresin, a natural mixture of oil and a resin extracted from various plants, such as pine or balsam fir, is 14% more expensive than the industry standard cans that contain BPA.  The companies listed above that are seeking out these BPA-free cans deserve praise because in order to protect their consumers from this harmful chemical they have to buy special cans that are more expensive than the BPA containing ones, which will drive the price of these products up.  Please thank them and buy their products!

Fortunately it is possible to make bottles and other food containers without BPA.  For years the baby bottle company Born Free has been producing BPA-free baby bottles, and glass baby bottle options do exist.  I used the Born Free products with my two youngest children and was very happy with them.  Recently Nalgene and Playtex have started using BPA-free alternatives and Gerber, Avent America, Evenflo, Disney's First Years, Dr. Brown and Playtex will stop selling bottles in the US with BPA. 

Back to Basics:

My very wise friend Amy has been freezing her own fresh tomatoes from the garden by coring them and throwing them into a zip-loc bag.  Zip-Loc bags are free of BPA and this could be a simple and delicious alternative to canned tomatoes.  She uses these in recipes the same way one would use stewed tomatoes or fresh tomatoes.  This is the best example of how to avoid chemicals in your food: prepare your own from whole foods!

If growing your own garden is not feasible for you, check out the Biodynamic Farming and Garden Association website to find out what is available in your area.  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture whereby consumers “buy” a share in a farm early in the season, say in February or March. This bulk sum pays for your weekly consumption of produce which will start during the growing season and serves as an advance to help farmers cover their overhead costs.  CSA’s usually deliver to a local drop point, and sometimes directly to your doorstep.  There is nothing more nourishing for body and soul than fresh, ripe produce from the garden, and no better way to instill peace of mind that the food choices you are making are safe.

Learning to Use Homeopathic Remedies at Home

Homeopathy is my favorite way to manage children's acute illnesses.  Because homeopathy is so safe, gentle and effective, I have never had to give Tylenol to my three children for an illness.  It is also very forgiving, so if you prescribe the wrong remedy without a noticeable change in symptoms, you can try another one.  And because homeopathy is energetic medicine as opposed to chemical medication, it is completely safe and will not interact with medications.

What is homeopathy?  It is a system of medicine based on treating people with highly diluted substances which trigger the body's own natural healing processes.  It works on the principle of "like treats like" - such that a substance that would cause symptoms in a healthy person is used to treat those same symptoms in illness.  Homeopathy helps to put the body back into balance, so if your child is whiney or clingy or in pain or restless with fever, the sign of having found the right remedy is renewed calm and sleep.  

Take a look at my posting Homeopathy Remedies for Common Illness for a basic primer of homeopathic remedies to keep on hand for children's illness and how to use them.  The ten remedies listed are the ones that I use most frequently with children's illness both in my practice and at home with my own children.  I recommend that parents keep these 10 remedies on hand at all times.  Take them with you on vacations, stock a few in your glove box (Aconite and Belladonna best choices as they are the most commonly used) so that you have them when you need them.  I can't tell you how many times we have been away for weekends with other families or just with our own children when I have found myself pulling out my homeopathy kit.  Bring one of your books along, or my blog posting, so you have a place to start.  

All 10 remedies (Aconitum Napellis, Belladonna, Chamomilla, Gelsemium Sempervens, Ferrum Phosphoricum, Apis, Oscillococcinum, Pulsatilla, Arsenicum Album, Spongia Tosta) are available for purchase right here on my blog.  Scroll down to the "Order Supplements"section on the right side of the page, half-way down under "Recent Posts".  You will see a green "buy products" hyperlink that you click on.  Don't forget the code once you get to the Emerson Ecologics log-in page, which is: emerso (Yes, you read it right, emerson without the n.  Wasn't feeling very creative that day was I?)  If your budget won't allow for buying that many remedies at a time, read through my posting Homeopathic Remedies for Common Illness and look for the symptoms that you see most frequently in your child.  In addition to your first purchases Aconite and Belladonna, select ones with symptoms pictures that remind you the most of your own children.  That way you can build your medicine cabinet slowly.

My two favorite homeopathic reference guides for simple, straightforward home care are: Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicine by Cummings and Ullman and Homoepathic Medicine at Home by Panos.  Both of these books are available at Amazon.com new and used.  

I am available for brief phone consults if your child is sick and you would like some guidance in determining what is the best homeopathic remedy to use.  If you call my office number: 503-804-0133 my cell phone will be paged and I will call you back.  If this is a service that interests you please email me at kandersonrossnd@gmail.com and I will get a price sheet to you.  I find that many parents want to use alternatives to over the counter medications for their children but don't know where to start.  My goal is to teach you so that you will start to recognize patterns in your child and gain in confidence for your own homeopathic prescribing, needing my help less and less.  I can't recommend this approach to treating children's illness highly enough.

Foolproof Gluten-Free Cornbread Muffins

We make this recipe a lot at home.  The other day my 11 year daughter and her friend made these for dinner unsupervised. This muffin recipe is quick to put together, quick to cook, and pleases even the most discerning of the non-gluten-free population.  Of course those of us gluten-free can't believe our good fortune to be able to savor a warm corn muffin right out of the oven, preferably with butter and honey!  Serve alongside soups, stews, chili and salad.  Enjoy!

Golden Cornbread Muffins (gluten-free)

1 cup cornmeal (Regular, fine or coarse grind depending on your preference.  We usually default to regular for a nice chewy texture.)

1 cup rice flour

½ tsp. Salt

4 tsp. Baking powder

1 tbsp. sugar

1 egg

1 cup milk (rice milk works too)

¼ cup melted butter

Combine dry ingredients in bowl.  Add egg, milk and butter. Beat until smooth, about 1 min. Do not overbeat. Bake  in greased muffin tins at 425 F for 15 min .  Serve warm with butter and a beaming smile.

A Healthier New Year by Avoiding These 7 Foods

I am always on the lookout for lists of the most toxic foods to avoid.  I recently read an article on Mercola.com, my favorite natural health website, outlining the seven worst foods you can eat.  The foods listed below are all tainted in some way by the chemicals of our modern world that are invisible to us when going about our daily lives.  What better time than the New Year to resolve to keep these foods out of your family's diet.  Keep this list on your refrigerator to remind you when planning meals and shopping lists.  Vote against toxic food by using your food dollars to purchase local, organic, sustainable, healthy choices!

1.  Canned Tomatoes - The plastic lining of the can contains the chemical bisphenol-A, a synthetic estrogen which has been linked to health issues from reproductive problems to heart disease, diabetes and obesity.  Most cans are lined with this chemical but the acidity of tomatoes causes the BPA to leach into your food.  Look for tomatoes packed in glass.  Bionaturae.com is a brand found in many health food stores.  Consider putting a group together and placing a bulk order for a reduced or wholesale rate.

2.  Corn-Fed Beef - Anytime an animal is fed a food that its body is not designed to digest there will be health problems both for the animal and those who ingest it (see #5).  Cattle are herbivores designed to eat grass, hence the seven stomachs.  Corn and soybeans are standard fare for cattle as it fattens them up quickly yet the grain is usually laden with pesticides and makes for a very unhealthy meat compared to grass-fed beef.  Grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium.

3.  Microwave Popcorn - The microwave bag is lined with chemicals that may be linked to infertility in humans and have been shown to cause liver, testicular and pancreatic cancer in animals.  The microwaving causes the chemicals to become a vapor which is absorbed by the popcorn.  Once ingested these chemicals stay in your body and accumulate over time.  Pop your own popcorn in a cast-iron skillet.  It's great entertainment for the kids especially if you use a splatter screen - they can watch it popping!  Then warm up some butter/olive oil/coconut oil and honey/maple syrup or parmesan to toss it in.  Organic popcorn is a great alternative to chips and snack foods and saves a lot of money on your grocery bill.

4.  Non-Organic Potatoes - Root vegetables absorb the herbicides, fungicides and pesticides in the soil.  Potatoes are sprayed with fungicides during the growing season then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting.  After being dug up they are treated again with chemicals to prevent them from sprouting.  OUCH!  Buy organic potatoes only because washing cannot remove the chemicals that are inside the potato.

5.  Farmed Salmon - Another example of how feeding an animal something that it is not designed to eat will wreak havoc.  Salmon are not designed to live in pens and consume soy, poultry litter and hydrolyzed chicken feathers.  Farmed salmon are high in contaminants including carcinogens and pesticides.  They are also treated with antibiotics.  When you eat farmed fish you ingest the same drugs and chemicals as the fish.  Eat wild-caught Alaska salmon ONLY.

6.  Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones - You have seen dairy product containers with labels indicating that their cows are not treated with growth hormones rBGH or rBST to boost milk production.  Milk from cows treated with this hormone produce milk high in white blood cells (ie.: pus) and a hormone called insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) which may contribute to breast, prostate and colon cancers.  There is a lot more to say about pasteurized, homogenized milk that I will save for another time (mainly that it is a highly processed food that is very difficult for our bodies to break down and digest causing multiple health problems).  The take-home here is to buy milk products that say rBGH-free, rBST-free, produced without artificial hormones, or organic milk.

7.   Conventially Grown Apples - Apples are the most pesticide-doused fruit.  Studies are linking a higher body burden of pesticides with cancer and Parkinson's disease.  Buy organic apples only.

Sources:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/29/The-7-Foods-Experts-Wont-Eat.aspx

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-7-foods-experts-wont-eat-547963/

No-Brainer, Quick, Whole-Food Dinners!

How often do you look up at the clock at 5:00 PM, groan, then proceed to rustle through your cupboards, frig and freezer desperately seeking something to serve your family?  If you're like me this happens more often than you care to admit.  Try as I might to keep ingredients on hand that can be transformed into a meal at a moments' notice, my "back-up" repertoire gets tired with overuse.  I need inspiration!  I need pictures!  I need shopping lists!

Enter Bust-A-Meal.  Bust-A-Meal is not your ordinary recipe site.  It is a subscription-based recipe-site that helps you prepare meals based on the unique needs of you and your family.  You can input such detailed information about your family's ongoing dietary preferences and restrictions such as food allergies, aversions, vegan, vegetarian, etc.  Then you indicate specific meal interests such as how many ingredients you are willing to work with, prep time, crock-pot, soups, barbecue, high or low fat, fiber, specific kinds of meat and poultry, fish, side dishes, main dishes, etc.  Then, for folks like me who aren't so good at planning meals and shopping in advance, you receive an email every week with your recipes for the week and their shopping lists. There is even a search engine on the site where you can type in a few ingredients that you have on hand and it will find a recipe for you that uses those ingredients!  I'm not kidding!

The site also helps you to keep track of your recipes and favorites and gives you the opportunity to share with friends.  You can even have the shopping lists sent to your iphone and use it as your shopping list at the store.

It gets better.  The recipes are simple and use primarily whole foods.  (There are a few recipes calling for cream of mushroom soup and packets of dry onion soup, which I either skip or substitute ingredients.)   A few of our favorite recipes include: Coconut Curry Chicken, Slow Cooked Fireside Beef Stew and Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs.  A year's subscription is about $1.99 per week, and there is an introductory period where you can try it out to see what you think.  My justification for paying for the service is that without good planning we waste at least $1.99 each week in food that goes bad because it doesn't get eaten, or I purchase food more frequently with less discretion and pay more as a result.  The meal-planning and shopping lists help me to purchase exactly what I need.  My goal is that over time I will get more comfortable planning meals and shopping lists so that I won't need to pay Bust-A-Meal to be my brain!  For now, it has added a lot of sanity to my life.

I don't think they could have done a better job making meal preparation simpler.  Bust-A-Meal is one of those brilliant things that comes your way in life, so practical and user-friendly that you can't believe you didn't come up with the idea yourself...

My Favorite New Breakfast - It's Raw and Quick!

What should I eat for breakfast? is a common question I get when working with patients to improve their health.  While heretofore I have been one to recommend the more traditional hearty and nutrient-dense breakfast foods of farm-fresh eggs, whole-grain oatmeal, and protein smoothies, I am eager to share with you my latest and greatest breakfast inspiration with a bonus - it's raw!

I mentioned in my previous post that my interest in adding more raw foods to my family's diet has been emboldened by the raw food blog The Best of Raw Foods.  In it is a section on raw food breakfast recipes, where I got the idea for the recipe to follow.

What I love about this breakfast is that it uses soaked seeds.  Seeds are untapped potential in their dry form.  Unfortunately beans, nuts and seeds contain enzyme inhibitors in their dry form making it difficult for our bodies to break down these foods and absorb all the nutrition that they contain.  Once soaked for a few hours, the enzyme inhibitors are broken down, the sprouting process begins and our body can absorb and assimilate the nutrition. Thus with soaked and sprouted foods we gain more nutrition than compared to that same food in unsprouted form.  (For more info and resources related to sprouting check out happyjuicer.com)

Flax seeds are one of the healthiest foods you can eat.  They are loaded with omega 3 fatty acids, are high in fiber and contain folate, B6 and magnesium among other nutrients.  In studies flax seeds have been shown to reduce hot flashes in women, help to prevent diabetes and prostate cancer and lower cholesterol levels.

Raw Oatmeal

We have prepared this recipe in my home a few times now and to my surprise it has gotten the thumbs up from all 5 members of my family!  The hardest part of this recipe is remembering to soak the seeds before you go to bed.

1 Tablespoon flaxseeds (any variety of flax seeds will do)

2 Tablespoons water

1 Tbsp. shredded raw (unsweetened) coconut

1/2 apple, chopped

handful of raisins

handful of chopped raw (or better yet, soaked overnight) almonds

cinnamon

Soak the flaxseeds in water overnight in a covered bowl.  In morning it will have a gelatinous consistency.  Add coconut, apple, raisins and almonds and a dash of cinnamon.  Enjoy!  (In our family we add a little almond or rice milk which isn't technically raw, but adds a little moisture.)  Experiment with other fruits and dried fruits, and seeds such as chia and hemp.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

How to get More Raw Food Into Your Diet

During the summer it is easy to eat raw foods.  Here in the Pacific Northwest we are blessed with the bounty of backyard gardens, farmer's markets and CSA's.  Nothing gives me more pleasure than to taste raw food just picked from a garden: a ripe tomato still warm from the sun, a handful of arugula, crunching on a green bean.

This time of year when it's cold and wet I want warming food.  Soups, casseroles and roasted vegetables hold more appeal than a cool salad.  Yet the benefits of raw food are so great that they must be included in the diet year-round.

Raw or "live" foods such as vegetables and fruit contain enzymes which enhance digestion.  When a raw food is cooked, the enzymes are destroyed.  When you eat a meal that does not contain enzymes the pancreas secretes enzymes to aid in digestion.  As we get older the pancreas produces fewer and fewer enzymes which is one of the reasons that older folks have a hard time with digestion.  When you eat a meal that contains enzymes the pancreas does not have to work as hard and you retain more of your pancreatic enzymes.

As well, live foods contain vitamins and minerals of which some or all are destroyed by cooking.  Live foods are very energizing and can often contribute to increased energy for people who feel tired or fatigue.

It may be easier than you think to add more raw foods to your diet this winter.  Here is a list of foods that are easy to incorporate into your diet that will contribute enzymes and nutrients to your meals.

9 Easy Ways to Add Raw Foods to Your Winter Repertoire:

1) Bags of baby carrots and snap peas.  If you don't have time to make a salad grab a handful.

2) Pre-washed and cut vegetables.  Many grocery stores such as Trader Joe's have a fabulous selection of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red pepper, etc.  Some stores will even sell a packaged "slaw" of raw broccoli or cabbage.  Add salad dressing and you have instant-salad!

3) Dried fruit such as raisins and apricots.  As long as it is not heated above 120 F it is considered live.  Most dried fruits are deydrated, dried or sun-dried rather than heated.

4) Nuts.  They are best digested when soaked overnight and dried in an oven with a temperature under 120 F. or when dried in a food dehydrator.  Many people tolerate raw nuts just fine but not everyone.

5) Sauerkraut.  This fermented, live food is an excellent addition to your plate when eating soups and stews.  The brand "Bubbies" is sold in many health food and grocery store with a gourmet section.  They also make pickles.  Less expensive than many of the gourmet, "live" sauerkrauts out there.

6) Avocado.  A meal in a skin.

7) Nut and seed butters such as almond, cashew and sunflower.  Many are "raw."

8) Fruit.  Nature's candy.

9) Pesto and sundried tomatoes are raw.  If you add them to warmed or cooked foods rather than cook with them you will benefit from the raw properties.

My goal for 2010 is to incorporate more raw foods into my family's diet.  I found a great blog today The Best of Raw Foods, that will help me do that.  This blog is loaded with tips and instructions on how to eat raw from getting started to travel, recipes and shopping lists.  Join me in my raw food revolution!

Gluten-Free Holiday Cookies

photo credit Ellery Ross

We spent the better part of Sunday afternoon celebrating the Scandinavian holiday of Advent.  What I know of this holiday from our Swedish au pair Ellinor, is that the four Sundays leading up to Christmas are days of celebration.  In her family they light a candle each Sunday, make a holiday treat and spend time with family and friends.  I love this tradition because it lends substance to the holiday "season" by giving the children something tangible to do during this crazy month of waiting and anticipation.  As we participate in the ritual of lighting a new candle each week it is an opportunity to reflect on the cycle of the darkness of the winter solstice, and the gradual return of the light.

This recipe for gluten-free sugar cookies is moderately healthy, rolls out nicely and stays together well after baking.  This is also the simplest g-f holiday sugar cookie recipe I have tried to date!  We are big appreciators of butter in my family, but this recipe could also be made dairy-free by substituting a trans-fat-free margarine or coconut oil for the butter in both the cookies and frosting.  My philosophy about treats during the holidays is everything in moderation!  Don't deny yourself a treat if it will bring you good cheer, use quality ingredients and enjoy it.  The best part of baking this time of year is sharing with friends anyway, so if you don't trust yourself with treats in the house, wrap them up and bring them to the neighbors!

Holiday Sugar Cookies (Gluten-Free)

3 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose G-F Baking Flour

2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup organic sugar (regular old white sugar will do if you don't have access to organic)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon almond extract, vanilla extract or grated orange or lemon zest
1 cup softened butter (not melted) or trans-fat-free margarine

Sift flour, baking soda & cream of tartar - cut in margarine or butter. Beat eggs, add sugar & almond - mix well. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and mix well by hand.

Chill at least 15 min (several days is also ok). Roll out to desired thickness on floured surface (potato starch is great for this) and cut into shapes.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and bake at 350F for 9 minutes.  After baked & cooled decorate with home-made frosting below.

Bake at 350F for 9 minutes.

Frosting

Truth is, I usually wing it when it comes to frosting.  I start by using an electric mixer to whip up a stick of butter and add organic powdered sugar and a little vanilla extract until I like the consistency.  I add somewhere between 1-2 cups of powdered sugar (which is about 1 cup less than conventional recipes).  Then divide the frosting among several smaller bowls and add a different food coloring to each.  

Home Hydrotherapy for Colds and Flu

Hydrotherapy, the use of water as a healing therapy, is a powerful tool to add to your home health kit, especially during the cold and flu season.

The physiological basis of hydrotherapy is that cold water causes constriction of superficial blood vessels which is stimulating, while hot water causes expansion of vessels and is relaxing.  When used in alternation a pumping effect is created which can increase circulation, decrease inflammation and improve elimination.

You probably use hydrotherapy and don't even realize it. Anytime one places a cool, wet washcloth on a feverish forehead hydrotherapy is being used.  Taking a cold shower after a sauna, soaking in an epsom salt bath, using a tepid bath to bring down a fever and taking a cold rinse after a hot shower are all examples of hydrotherapy.

While there are many hydrotherapy treatments there are two that are commonly used in our home and serve as powerful healing tools.  The first one, called "Warming Socks", is great to use when someone is "coming down with something" as it is relaxing and can help increase circulation removing the potein byproducts of inflammation which cause stagnation.   The second "Alternating Hot and Cold Compresses to the Chest" is used when an illness goes into the chest or lungs as it creates a pumping effect as the cold constricts and the hot open vessels creating a pumping action which helps the lungs to clear excess fluid and congestion. It is great for soothing coughs and relaxing someone who is uncomfortable.

Warming sock treatment 

Supplies:

• white, cotton socks
• wool socks

1) Take a hot bath, shower or foot bath.  Dry feet.

2)  Soak socks in cold water or run under cold water in tap.  Wring out.

3) Place cold, wet socks on your feet followed by wool socks.  It's ok to put adult sized wool socks on the wee ones.  I just fold down the cuffs.  Don't worry about getting the bed wet as the wool will prevent that.

3) Go to bed.

 While you sleep your body will warm up the wet socks creating a warm compress on your feet which will increase circulation and help draw congestion out of other parts of your body and can help to improve fevers, sore throats, sinus infections, headaches and head congestion.  This is a great treatment for children as it is very relaxing and helps them to sleep, plus they think it’s fun to go to bed wearing wet socks!  You will be amazed that when you wake from your nap or sleep your white socks will be completely dry!  Check out my friend Dr Heather Manley's video (performed by her daughters) - a step by step guide on how to do "Magic Socks."  I like that in lieu of a shower or foot bath their family does a little foot massage to warm up the foot before applying the cold wet socks.

Hydrotherapy for Chest Congestion and Cough 

A great way to bring increased circulation to chest.  Also relaxing and tends to quiet cough allowing for sleep.

Supplies:

• dry hand towel
• 2 washcloths
• 1 sheet
• wool blanket

1. Place wool blanket on a bed
2. Place a cotton sheet on top of the blanket
3. Have child lie on the sheet and wrap child up like a burrito (feet first then sides), first with sheet, then with wool blanket.
4. Open covers quickly to expose patient’s chest and place a hot, wrung-out washcloth on patient’s chest from armpits to belly button. Place dry towel on top to prevent sheet getting very wet.  Wrap back up in sheet and blanket as before and leave on for 5 min.  Let patient relax.
5. Quickly remove warm cloth and replace with a wrung-out cold wet washcloth with dry towel on top, re-wrapping as before.  Leave on for at least 10 minutes or until patient warms washcloth with body heat.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 on the back while child lies on stomach.  If you prefer you can perform treatment twice on the chest while they remain on their back is ok too, especially if coughing is quelled with treatment as it can start back up when turning over totheir stomach and breathing may be more difficult.
7. Remove anything wet so patient can sleep.  They will often sleep very soundly with less coughing after this treatment.

This treatment can be modified to use on the throat or areas of the body where circulation needs to be increased, such as after a bite, muscle strain or sprain or injury.

Homeopathic Remedies for Common Ailments

These are the remedies that I have used the most in my practice and at home with my children. Of course there are hundreds of homeopathic remedies, this is the minimum amount that I suggest you keep on hand so that you have them when you need them. Homeopathic Remedies are safe and non-toxic. They do not react with any other medications or herbal preparations. You do not have to wonder about drug interactions with homeopathics the way you do with herbal medicine and even nutritional supplements. Don’t be afraid to try them as they will not hurt your child. They do act on a very deep, energetic level and will affect the overall balance of your child’s body. Whether a child receives the right or wrong homeopathic remedy he will benefit from having taken a homeopathic medicine. You can experiment if you don’t get the right remedy the first time and try another one. Generally wait an hour or so between remedies and don’t give more than three different remedies in one day.

Aconite (aconitum napellis). This is the homeopathic remedy, next to Arnica, that you will use the most. With Aconite think: suddenness of symptoms, restlessness, fever, anxiety, agitation, thirst. Your child wakes in the middle of the night with a fever, earache or croup, go to Aconite first. Suddenly your child has a hot fever and is whiney and restless, think Aconite. After playing outside without a coat on an unpredictable spring day your child comes in complaining of not feeling well, is warm and can’t find a comfortable position on the couch, think Aconite. The fever can alternate with chills. Exposure to wind, cold or shock can precede illness. This remedy is only for the first 24 hours after onset of symptoms. After that try a different remedy.

Sudden onset of symptoms
Child goes to bed fine but wakes around midnight with a cough, earache, croup, cold or fever
Restlessness, agitation, anxiety, fear
Symptoms after exposure to cold, dry winds or in seasons when days are warm and night is cold
Asthma, bleeding, fever, cold, cough, influenza, sore throat, etc

Belladonna. Also comes on suddenly. There is a fever, red face, hot dry skin, sensitivity to light and jarring and headache. A very red sore throat, pounding headache, nagging cough or other throbbing and inflammatory symptoms. Hands and feet are often cold despite high fever. Chills and heat may alternate. Glassy-eyed. Over sensitive to pains, pains feel unbearable, then they disappear for a while, suddenly reoccuring. Pains throbbing, stitching, stabbing. All senses hypersensitive – noises too loud, light too bright, touch hurts, etc and this worsens pain. Starting, jerking, twitching, spasms even in sleep. Pupils dilated. Anger. May bite, hit, groan. See lights and colors, or monsters when eyes closed. Delirious. Wild dreams, restless, jerky sleep. Tends to be thirstless. (think: strep throat)

Mucous membranes dry and very red (angry red)
Very intense emotions: delirious, anger
Unbearable throbbing, stitching, stabbing pains
All senses hypersensitive
Usually thirstless but may desire tiny sips of ice water
Earache, teething, strep throat, headache, cough, (colic) etc.

Chamomilla. Irrepressible irritability associated with teething. Nothing but rocking and carrying child brings relief. One cheek red and hot, other cold and pale. Head warm and moist with sweat. This is the typical picture of the teething child/toddler where they are refusing sleep around 9 PM and are very fickle and capricious. Nothing pleases them. Very demanding yet fickle, you give them what they ask for and they throw it on the floor. Pointing at things they can’t have and having a tantrum when they can’t have it. Sour smell to sweat, body fluids. Don’t over prescribe (it works so well) because they can build up a tolerance to it.

Very irritable, capricious, fickle
One cheek red and hot, the other not
Angry/temper tantrum
Hypersensitive
Sleepless
Greenish stool that looks like spinach
Teething, toothache, anger, earache, (diarrhea, colic, indigestion) etc

Gelsemium Sempervens. For the very weak child who is content to lie still and has a mild fever with chills. Limp, listless, apathetic. Half-open eyes, eyelids feel heavy. Partially flushed face. Wants to stay in bed as much as possible, may be too tired to fall asleep and stay asleep. Hands, feet, tongue, voice may tremble. Chills up and down back. Profuse urination and feels better afterward. Symptoms come on slowly, unlike Belladonna and Aconite.

Physical and mental weakness and exhaustion
Heaviness of eyelids and extremities
No thirst
Trembling and quivering
Listless, drowsy, apathy

Ferrum Phosphoricum. Good for initial stages of inflammatory conditions when you aren’t quite sure yet what is going on. Child is clearly not feeling well, may be slightly flushed, not themselves, but there are no outstanding features to describe how they are looking, acting or feeling. Throat may be a little sore, some fever. This remedy can either help the disease process along to the next stage or it can head it off at the pass.

Headache, fever, sore throat, cough, earache
Early stages of illness without outstanding features
Apis. Swelling. Think very boggy, swollen, red, shiny tonsils. Burning and stinging pains worse warmth and better from cold and cold applications. Hives and skin rashes relieved by cold.
Sore throat, conjunctivitis, chicken pox, allergies, hives, insect bites
Swelling, burning, stinging pain better cold applications

Oscillococcinum. A must for every medicine cabinet. As soon as one has the common symptoms of a viral infection or influenza: achiness, chills, throat becoming sore, becoming feverish, etc. follow the instructions on the box. This has been scientifically tested and it really works when used in the very earliest stages of illness. Can take preventatively after having been around people with influenza.

Early stages of illness with chills, fever, headache, stomach discomfort, achiness that you fear could become aviral infection or influenza

Pulsatilla. Child clingy, crying, wants to be held constantly and craving emotional attention. These kids are very sweet, not angry or irritable. Thick yellow or greenish discharge from nose worse at night or in a warm room. Nose gets congested when lying down causing child to breathe through mouth. Child feels better in open air, may ask to go outside or being outside improves symptoms. I have seen this remedy work great for kids in the early stages of congestion and cough when they are clingy and whiney. Also one of the first remedies to think of with earache. Symptoms often come on after consumption of very rich food (birthday party).

Lack of thirst
Whiney and clingy, want to be held
Congestion, cough, earache, common cold,
Symptoms better in open air

Arsenicum Album. The diarrhea remedy. Take with you when you travel if you could get Montezuma’s revenge. No trip to a third world country is complete without it. Frequent bouts of offensive-smelling, burning diarrhea and nausea with burning vomit. Child is restless and anxious with great discomfort and might exclaim that they are dying. This person is high strung and anxious about their condition and desperate to feel better. Also for watery, profuse nasal secretions that produce cold sores accompanied by sharp burning sensations of the mucous membranes of the nose, where the nose is blocked and sneezing does not bring relief (sinusitis).

Physical and mental restlessness with anxiety that condition will worsen (am I dying, I feel like dying, I am never going to get better)
Burning pains and discharges
Traveler’s diarrhea
Very chilly
Very thirsty but only for sips at a time
Diarrhea, influenza, food poisoning, sinusitis, fever, indigestion, anxiety

Spongia Tosta – for croup if Aconite doesn’t work.

Dosing suggestions:

1 dose= 2-3 pellets under tongue (can also dissolve in filtered or spring water and give by teaspoonful. Great for babies. The water just needs to touch the mucous membranes of the mouth. )

This is the hardest part of homeopathy as you will wonder how much to give and how often. Less is more. Please try to take remedies 15 minutes after or before eating to give the remedy time to settle into the body. I suggest using lower potencies such as 6x, 6c and 30c. Give a child a couple pellets under the tongue. If child responds to first dose but starts complaining again soon after, keep repeating the remedy every fifteen minutes until the response holds. Usually three times in the first hour is enough. An hour after the first dose you should have a good idea as to whether this remedy is having an effect on your child, the first place that you see this is usually on the emotional plane. A good remedy will help your child to become less restless, less angry, less clingy, less whiney, etc. A good sign that you have found the right remedy is if your child can sleep. Generally speaking if a remedy seems to be helping, give once every couple hours or when child appears to need another dose because symptoms that improved with remedy have reappeared. Don’t give a dose because it’s been a couple hours, wait until it is needed as often child’s state has changed and you won’t need to dose as often.

If new symptoms result, or if child is experiencing no relief, or the child’s overall symptom picture has changed greatly, try a new remedy. Or if the child says that the pain or discomfort is gone and that they are feeling better, stop giving remedies as the vital force is rebalancing itself and nothing more is needed. Good luck and happy healing!

Keeping the Swine Flu in Perspective

I have never been comfortable being a "dissident" and I don't identify myself as one. It isn't my nature to be comfortable standing out in a crowd because my beliefs differ from those of the majority. Those who know me would say that I am usually most comfortable blending in and making my waves behind the scenes.

At this moment, however, I find myself sticking my neck out during the biggest mass-vaccine campaign in American history with the counter-message of "Make your own decision." Is that really so radical? And while there is some discomfort for me personally in being identified as one who is sharing a message that is not universally held, my need to educate and assuage fear is overpowering my need to protect my ego.

I have been immersed in research about the Swine Flu steadily for a month now. I have read scientific studies, watched television reports, followed the CDC and WHO, read mainstream medical advice, read alternative medical advice, read articles and interviews, and personally interviewed medical professionals whom I trust. In my post of Oct. 5 on the Swine Flu I made a blanket statement that one should not get the swine flu shot. Due to my continued research on the topic I feel the need to qualify that statement for several reasons:

1) Squalene is not present in the swine flu shot in the US although it was present in the trial vaccine and is present in doses in Europe. The presence of squalene was one of my reasons for cautioning against the Swine Flu shot. There is Thimerosol present however, a mercury-based preservative, in the multi-dose vials of the H1N1 vaccine. It is not present in single dose vials. People who want to avoid thimerosal-containing Swine Flu and seasonal flu vaccines must get the FluMist or the single dose shots. medicinenet.com While everyone should have this choice, single dose vaccines may not be available for every person in every location during every week of the vaccination campaign. The FDA has stated its continuing efforts to remove thimerosol from all vaccines, in particular for children under the age of 6. The reason that it is present in the H1N1 vaccine, and in the regular flu shot in general, is due to expediency of vaccine production.

2) The uncertainty of this disease is more than some people can take. Will I get it? Will I not? What if I do? What if I don't get the shot but I get really sick or make someone in my family really sick? How do I best protect my family and who will take care of the kids if I am sick? The list goes on and on. I feel that for many people their belief in and sense of security around vaccines can outweigh the "what-if's" of developing the disease, and in these cases the ease of mind that comes with the belief system "I am vaccinated therefore protected" can mitigate a lot of stress which could make one more susceptible to illness. These are people who, after doing their work around the safety and efficacy of flu shots, may consider getting a vaccine simply to ease their mind. I have great concerns about children under the age of 9 receiving two Swine Flu shots, which is what has been shown in trials to be necessary for an immune response for that age group. Especially if they are also receiving 2 regular flu shots this year. I would caution parents to exercise their right to request thimerosol-free vaccine, and to ask their doctor a lot of questions, including seeing the package insert that comes with each vial of vaccine and making note of the company who makes the vaccine, the lot and batch number, date of production and any other identifiying information, a list of all ingredients, and possible side-effects, in case there is a vaccine reaction.

3) I can be naive when it comes to the general health of most Americans. While the optimist-naturopathic doctor in me would like to think that most folks take probiotics, Vitamin D3 and cod liver oil every day, stock up on Zinc and Vitamin C, eat whole foods, exercise, rest, drink water and generally pay attention to their overall health and well-being (see my blog posting of 10/5/09), I know that most do not. So perhaps it was irresponsible of me to suggest that one not get the vaccine without better knowledge of the immune and overall health status of my readers. I do believe that one can turn one's health around quickly by making simple dietary and lifestyle changes and this is ultimately what I urge my readers and my patients to do, but if one isn't willing to do the work, perhaps they should protect themselves and those around them with a vaccine.

4) I have since learned more about why pregnant women are especially vulnerable to the flu. In addition to being generally immune compromised there is an increase of blood and fluids in their bodies everywhere including the lungs. As well the diaphragm pushes up on the lungs during pregnancy causing compression and decreased lung volume, decreased lung function and compromises the lung's ability to clear out pathogens leading to a greater possibility of secondary infections. Keep in mind that these physical conditions are present for all pregnant women whether or not a flu epidemic is brewing.

While pregnant women are, along with other immune-compromised folks, or perhaps more importantly their family members, the only people on my list who might consider the swine flu vaccine if this pademic ever really gets off the ground, I feel very strongly that these populations (and anyone at all receiving a Swine Flu Shot) request a vaccine WITHOUT THIMEROSOL.

Having said that, the H1N1 vaccine has not been tested on pregnant women, nursing women, and children according to vaccine package inserts. Also according to flu vaccine package insert, immune compromised folks and those taking immunosuppressive drugs may not have a beneficial and protective immune response from the vaccine. Yet children, pregnant women and immune compromised people are the populations being targeted by the H1N1 Vaccine campaign.

Getting a vaccine does not guarantee prevention of the flu. A vaccine will help the body launch an immune response which may be enough to prevent one from getting sick or it may give the body's body's immune response a head start so that symptoms are lessened; you get sick, but less severely and for a shorter duration.

Yet in July the CDC stopped tracking the spread of Swine Flu and created a new reporting system. The rationale was: why waste resources testing for H1N1 flu when the government has already confirmed there's an epidemic? The new reporting system, up and running as of Oct. 1, lumps together all influenza-like illness including influenza A (of which Swine flu is one) pneumonia, and influenza B. As an example: I was looking at the U.S. statistics for the week of Oct 10-17 on the CDC website. There were 12,943 cases tested for influenza nationally, 4,844 were positive for H1N1, 11 were Influenza B, the rest (8,000) were undetermined. If 8,000, or 2/3, of tests performed were negative for Swine Flu, where is the epidemic? And why are we lumping together all influenza-like illness (ILI) when we haven't even hit the high season for Influenza B yet? And what about the other 8,000 unidentified illnesses? Aren't they the cause of most illness?

A study released by Purdue University Researchers and published in the Oct. 15 edition of the European Scientific Journal Eurosurveillance, claims that at this point the vaccine will have little effect on the number of infections because as much of 60% of the population has already been infected. The researchers went on to report that up to 60% of seasonal influenza infections are asymptomatic. That means that one may not present with classic flu symptoms, or have any symptoms at all, but will still be building antibodies against the seasonal virus.
Yet, although the CDC is no longer counting cases, they are recommending that anyone with "presumed" H1N1 without a lab test, even if diagnosed by a doctor, still get the H1N1 vaccine.

So let me make sure I got this right: the CDC stopped counting H1N1 cases in August saying that it wasted too many resources to keep up with the mounting pandemic, so they suggested that all influenza-like-illness be lumped into one category. Many, including CBS news after three months of investigation, believe that H1N1 numbers are overestimated as the cause of most ILI this fall. And the Purdue researchers say that most folks have already been exposed to H1N1 and as a result the timing of vaccine so late in the pregression of the epidemic may not prove to help quell numbers at all. The CDC says that Swine Flu numbers are underrepresented due to the small fraction of cases being tested and reported, suggesting that much higher numbers have been infected, yet still recommends mass-vaccination except in cases where one has had a positive H1N1 test.

If your head isn't spinning by now you aren't paying attention!!

Many scientists believe the cause of death in the Swine Flu pandemic of 1918 was primarily bacterial due to secondary illness, not viral. The theory is that the swine flu weakened the immune system making it more vulnerable to further attack by the regular slate of opportunistic pathogens such as respiratory syncytial virus, bocavirus, coronavirus and rhinovirus that cause the symptoms known as "influenza-like illness". It is common, in a flu season, to have no known cause for up to 2/3 of "flu" cases.

The other thing that really concerns me about this supposed epidemic and its relationship to the vaccine, is the protection, or immunity from liability, that the American government has granted the five vaccine manufacturers. If we are so certain about the efficacy and safety of this vaccine that we are putting our pregnant women and children on the front lines, why then aren't the vaccine manufacturers held responsible?

Ultimately I believe that the public health goal is a noble one, to protect the rights and lives of all people. I believe that individuals, under expert advisement, should make their own decisions about their health, not the government. I believe that there is no better way for the American Government to ensure the safety of the American people than by educating them about their health options and empowering them to choose what is best for themselves and their children. So far we still have that freedom despite the current pressure of the U.S. vaccine campaign. Let's stick our necks out and make ourselves uncomfortable to keep it that way.

No Need To Panic About the Swine Flu

The media is a powerful tool with influence over great masses of people. The Swine Flu scare is a perfect example of hype and misinformation. There is only one perspective made available in the mainstream media, one of fear and alarmism. When it comes to health information sometimes one must dig to get both sides of the issue.

To my suprise I didn't have to dig very deep to find a reliable source for the actual statistics of this disease: the CDC.

The good news

The CDC website claims that there is an increase in ILI or "influenza-like illness" for this time of year characterized by classic influenza symptoms: fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, body aches and sometimes vomiting. Hospital rates are higher for this time of year but lower than during a seasonal influenza outbreak. A very interesting statistic is the number of deaths from influenza and pneumonia are "low and within the bounds of what is expected for this time of year." This is significant because this time of year is not one where we typically see influenza - so if the deaths are low to normal while H1N1 is spreading, that is encouraging and reflective of a milder illness than we have been fearing.

More good news: H1N1 is proving to be sensitive to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. You may find it reassuring that if you or a family member becomes very ill with Swine Flu, these conventional medications are available to thwart the progression of the virus. It is important, however, that one not use these medications unless very ill, as resistant strains of the virus can develop if antivirals are overused.

The bad news is that the the rates of infection continue to rise as this is a very contagious illness. The other bad news is the hype is causing people to unnecessarily visit emergency rooms with mild illness, creating the need for temporary tents to handle the increased demand for care and to keep the infected away from those with more serious health problems for whom H1N1 could be disastrous: the immune compromised, those with asthma and heart conditions, the very old and the very young.

The CDC states the following guidelines for when to seek medical care:
"A person should seek medical care if they experience shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, or if a fever continues more than three days. For parents with a young child who is ill, seek medical care if a child has fast or labored breathing, continuing fever or convulsions (seizures)." The CDC also states: "supportive care at home, such as resting, drinking plenty of fluids, and using a pain reliever for aches - is adequate for recovery in most cases."

The Vaccine
This disease is proving mild enough that the vaccine is not necessary and could have long-term effects much worse than the temporary inconvenience of the illness. It is important to keep in mind that the H1N1 vaccine is still experimental and short and long-term risks have not yet been identified. H1N1 vaccine trials began August '09 and will continue for 13 months. In 1976 during the last Swine Flu outbreak, 43 million people were vaccinated with a then still experimental vaccine. In addition to the outbreak never really materializing (the illness did not spread beyond 240 soldiers at Fort Dix, NJ), 500 Americans came down with a rare neurodegenerative condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome which many experts believe was linked to the vaccine. Twenty-five of those 500 died. In addition some experts believe that "Gulf War Syndrome" is related to the antibody reaction to the adjuvant "squalene" in the then still experimental Anthrax Vaccine. This has been a hotly debated topic over the years especially since soldiers who never saw combat also had symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.

The Seattle Times reported 10/1/09 that the State of Washington's Health Dept has temporarily suspended the FDA rule that limits the amount of mercury preservative Thimerosol given to pregnant women and children under the age of 3. The stated reason for the additional mercury is to kill bacteria that could be be present on the needle when it is introduced to withdraw the medication. We do not have good studies that explore the effects of thimerosol on pregnant women and young children as these are populations excluded from vaccine trials.

As well there is a laundry list of additional potential ingredients including preservatives, antibiotics and additional viruses. The vaccine for the swine flu trials contains MF59, or "squalene", an adjuvant (substance added to a vaccine to improve the immune response so less vaccine is needed) that is not FDA approved. This ingredient is not listed in the ingredients list of the swine flu vaccine available to the public, therefore the vaccines used in the trials and the vaccines for the public are different. Changing the ingredients from trial to mass production is a common practice in vaccine development. The public will be unwilling members of an experimental drug trial by receiving the vaccine.

There is recent information from Canadian scientists indicating that those who received the regular flu shot last flu season are twice as likely to contract the swine flu this season. This is considered controversial information as the data has not been officially published and is being debated by the experts. I do feel that it is significant information however and should be factored into the decision to vaccinate or not.

More Good News: Natural Treatment and Prevention

1) Probiotics (good "gut bugs") - are an effective way to reduce the effects of illness in children. A recent study published in the Journal Pediatrics revealed that daily dietary probiotic supplementation is effective in warding off colds and flu. In the study the children aged 3-5 who received probiotic therapy had 50-70% fewer colds and flu compared to the control group who did not receive any probiotic therapy. This is a very significant finding as up until now the only natural agents that I have known to be proven to shorten the duration of viruses are Vitamin C, Zinc and Elderberry. There is now good data to show that probiotics prevent AND shorten the duration of illness. Yee Haw! One per day for adults and children.

2) Vitamin D3 - almost two-thirds of the children who have died of the Swine Flu have had epilepsy, cerebral palsy, or other neurodevelopmental conditions like mental retardation. What these conditions have in common is that they are all associated with Vitamin D deficiency. There is a great story on the Vitamin D Council website of a residential care facility in Wisconsin which treats with and regularly monitors the vit. D levels of its residents. Recently the Swine Flu hit their area very hard and only 2 of 275 residents contracted it, while 103 staff members whose vitamin D levels were not monitored and treated did contract the disease. It is important to remember that the active form of Vitamin D is "D3 or Cholecalciferol" - D2 is not as biologically available and may not convert to the active form of Vit. D in the tissues.

Dr Waddell of the Vitamin D Council suggests 1,000 IU Vitamin D3 per 25 lbs of body weight as a maintenance dose. It is important to monitor serum levels of Vitamin D3 to make sure that they are at optimal levels.

3) Elderberry Extract - Long-used as an immunity enhancer, we now know that it also prevents viral replication by smoothing down the spikes (hemagluttinin) on the surface of a virus used to puncture through healthy cell walls. A product called DART Immunity Take Care by New Chapter/New Mark is something that my patients and family have benefitted from for a couple years now. It is your own personal anti-viral in a delicious, berry flavored tablet. Most kids are happy to chew them and one/day is all it takes when you are feeling ill or have been exposed to a virus. A must for every home medicine cabinet. Take one lozenge when you have been exposed to a virus or someone in your home is ill.

4) Vitamin C and Zinc - These two time honored immune soldiers don't get enough appreciation. Both have been shown to shorten the duration of common colds and viruses by boosting natural immunity. Vit. C also acts as a natural antihistamine that helps dry up watery eyes and reduce nasal and chest congestion. It is also a powerful antioxidant that can help prevent and clean-up the damage that a body endures when fighting viruses and bacteria. Vitamin C, with bioflavonoids: 1,000 mg every few hours throughout the day, up to bowel tolerance. (Vit C can cause loose stools, so reduce amount as necessary).
Zinc lozenges, preferably with 3 mg copper, every few hours, up to 70 mg daily during a cold and 30 mg daily as a preventive.
Children: under 25 lbs take ¼ of adult dose, 25 – 50 lbs take 1/3 of adult dose.


5) Homeopathic Remedies - Homeopathy is a deep-acting and profound system of medicine that is based on the Law of Similars that has been in use for over 200 years. Homeopathic remedies do not treat the disease directly but stimulate the body to re-balance and heal itself. See separate posting on homeopathic remedies for colds and flu.

6) Oscillococcinum – Studies have shown that this combination homeopathic preparation is effective against the very first signs of flu. To be taken as soon as chills, fever, aches, etc start. Found in health food stores. Follow the directions on the box. Completely non-toxic and safe for kids.

The Take Home

The H1N1 flu, or "Swine Flu" - is a virus. It is a new one, so in addition to the "flu" virus that goes around every year (Influenza B) we now have another one to contend with (Influenza A). The good news is that most health authorities, including the CDC, agree that it is "mild" and in most cases even milder than the annual flu that we hide from every year. Prevention is the best medicine, so by boosting your vitamin D levels, taking probiotics regularly, and stocking up on natural remedies such as DART immune, vitamin C, Zinc and homeopathic remedies you and your family can breathe a sigh of relief that you are taking steps that can increase your family's chances of staying healthy. Good old fashioned hand-washing is also a very effective way to prevent spread. I have my children wash their hands as soon as they come home from school every day, and take a probiotic...