The sunscreen myth

We live in AZ, my kids do not use sunscreen unless we are having a mid-day pool party where we will be in the sun for hours during the hottest time (between 10 am and 2 pm). If we are planning to be at a beach for hours, or a water park for hours then yes I do put an all natural sunscreen on them. Usually they are very thick and very white since I usually use one with pure zinc oxide. I have found that mixing it with pure coconut oil makes it rub in better. But I will not use the mainstream sunscreens because they are filled with toxins and dare I say, CANCER CAUSING chemicals. Seems kind of stupid to put chemicals on your skin that CAUSE cancer in an effort to PREVENT cancer. We were made to be in the sun. As far back as I can tell, the sun has been here. And this society today spends far less time in the sun as a whole than previous ones. So if you are wondering whether you really need that sunscreen slathered on the moment you walk out the door, here is a good read for you. And all this sunscreen prevents us from getting the vitamin D we NEED! Don't get me wrong, no one should end up like a lobster but a little sun each day is critical for us in my opinion. That doesn't mean that someone with an outdoor job should never put on sunscreen and get sunburned, that is not good. But, there are much safer sunscreen choices out there so that if you need the protection, you can get it without the toxins. So, HERE is the article then go get some sun after you finish reading it! :)

Sugar free raspberry coconut milk (frozen) yogurt

Well the heat is certainly here in the southwest. It is 97 degrees at 10:00 am and the kids wanted a snack. So, I whipped this up and it came out really good so I figured I would share.

Yesterday I made a batch of homemade coconut milk yogurt. I am not a fan of the commercial version, they have evaporated cane juice and some other ingredients that I don't like to give to my kids. I used the recipe from Julie Matthews' presentation at DAN! 2009 which goes a little something like this (although not verbatim so don't quote me on it!):

Take any nut milk (I used homemade coconut milk, thicker than usual which is 2 cups water, 1 cup shredded coconut without additives, blend and strain) and heat to 160 degrees. Let cool to at least 105 degrees. Whisk in a little less than 1/16 tsp GI Pro Health non dairy yogurt starter (recipe called for 16 ounce:1/16 tsp starter, I had about 13 ounces so I used just a tad less). Put in yogurt maker for at least 8 hours. Refridgerate at least 5 hours, preferrably overnight before serving.

So, this recipe makes good yogurts but mainly for smoothies and such because it does come out thin. That is why I tried to make the milk thicker. I started with a 1:1 ratio of coconut to water but that was a little too thick so we added another cup of water. It was still pretty thin when I looked at it this morning so I threw it in the blender with a couple of handfuls of frozen raspberries and two heaping spoonfuls of Stevia (yes, we like things sweet around here). What resulted was very similar to a frozen yogurt and very sweet and tasty with that wonderful coconut milk flavor! But, it has none of the additives, sugars, etc. that can be problematic for many kids on the spectrum. So, I hope you can use this recipe and enjoy!!

Homeopathy update

As I have mentioned before, we've been doing homeopathy with Pierre Fontaine since December. It is a very precise method and you don't always get the right remedy the first try, we sure didn't. And after a consult or follow up I feel a little like I have just done some sort of psychic channeling session. You really need to get inside of your child and understand how they feel, especially in regards to the issues you want to work on, so that the right remedy can be found. It can be a little surreal. But man, when it works, it WORKS!!!

Many of you know we've been doing Respen-A for about a year and a half. It has worked VERY well for my son but there are some things that I am not all that excited about. We had to stop or reduce some supplements that I really do find beneficial (Turmeric, D3, EFA's) because in higher doses it can negate the effects. I tended to push that envelope especially, for example, when my son came down with a cold and I dosed with high D3. And another thing I was not thrilled with was the high amounts of calcium carbonate that he had to take daily. For whatever reason, we have bowel issues with calcium and so my long term plan was to be off of it. But I feel that way about most things. I want to HEAL my child to the point where these things are not critical. And let me tell you, Respen-A was CRITICAL!

We took a Respen-A break a few months ago out of necessity. We ran out of the calcium! It was a mess. He was breaking down at school, was unable to complete the normal math worksheets they complete in class daily. In talking with his teacher, she noticed a big change. The day we resumed Respen-A was the day his ability to complete that worksheet resumed. Takeaway - Respen-A is critical right now.

At a recent consult with Pierre, I explained just what happens with M when he is not on Respen-A. He becomes a volatile, screaming, meltdown prone child. He is explosive and very emotional. So we went there. We came up with a remedy. Since then.....WOW!!! Within days we had comments at our IEP from the school SLP about him meeting goals that she JUST set for the upcoming year in regards to listening to peers and asking unprompted questions back and forth. We dosed Sat, Mon when she saw him (and coincidentally wrote the new goals for the upcoming year) he accomplished that! Eric and I looked at each other. Hmmmmm. She went on to say he was as "ON" as she had ever seen him. She has been seeing him for 2 years now. That week he came walking out with his peers, chatting and laughing together. He has started to want to know what my husband and I are talking about, very interested in our conversations now. He's picking up funny quotes from peers. For example, when shooting hoops and missing he now says "aaawwww, show me some love". His awareness is much better and he is showing much more compassion and empathy towards others. Anxiety and perseverations are down. Thankfully I don't have to have a play-by-play of what houses have satellite dishes or basketball hoops as we drive places anymore.

So, after a follow up with Dr. Woeller to review labs and our other supplements, I ran the idea of a Respen-A break by him, for the reasons I stated above. He was all for it. So, I waited until school was out. It has been 1 full week of no Respen-A and quite honestly we are STILL seeing gains. We dose our homeopathic remedy about once every 7 - 10 days, when we see the negatives creeping back in, we dose again. This last dose was 12 days ago!! Of course we still have issues to work on but I am thrilled that he hasn't turned into a complete mess after 1 week of no Respen-A!! Like with Respen-A, we have seen increased ability to tan with this new remedy. My son was casper the ghost, seriously. And in the AZ sun, an outdoor child, and no sunscreen, I am not sure how that was possible. Most sunscreens are filled with cancer causing chemicals and we NEED natural vitamin D for the sun. So, we go swim in the morning, do inside activities during the heat of the day, then swim in the afternoon/evening. But, my kids get plenty of sun and even though they never burn, my daughter looks like the Coppertone baby and my son has always stayed completely white. No tan lines....NONE. Odd. Well Respen-A gave us our first back of the neck tan. Evidence of cellular healing and enzyme processes now work, YAHOO. With this new remedy, sock tan line from shooting hoops on the black top at school! This first week of summer has also brought more tanning so far.

He is also going through a growth spurt which has been throwing his sensory system into a little chaos right now. But overall I could not be happier. We sat through the first summer movie on Thurs and it was my daughter who wanted to leave early. Now that was a first!! My son did great! He also has been wanting to read on his own. He has always loved being read to and his reading is coming along nicely. But, with his fear of failure, if he picked up a book and found a few words that he couldn't sound out, his frustration would get the best of him. Now he calmly sits there, reading what he can, asking us to help with words he can't. Woah! So we shall see what the next few weeks bring but I am very pleased with his continued recovery. He is missing his friends and asking for playdates, we have a couple of things lined up so far. A far cry from the child who avoided other children, instead spinning Tupperware lids for fun. On the last day of school his class did their last "community circle". That is where the kids sit in a big circle and whoever has the ball gets to speak. They can voice concerns, praise, gripes, etc. Many of the kids were saying things like "I hope everyone has a good summer". M spoke last and his was "I just love everyone in my class". Collective aaawwwww.

****NOTE - I firmly believe that had we tried homeopathy from the beginning it would have been an epic fail. I believe that some level of healing needs to happen. When we first started this journey, my son's body was overrun with bacteria (clostridia) and fungus (arabinose), he had severe gut and brain inflammation, he had lots of unaddressed food intolerances, etc. His body was just trying to "keep the wheels on" at that point. It took us 2 years of heavy biomed, testing, dietary changes, etc. until we got to a point where his body had healed enough to engage in this level of additional healing. Have you ever tried to offer a natural or holistic remedy to someone who uses a lot of pharmaceuticals, has a heavily processed diet, etc? Usually they don't work and the person walks away thinking it is all a bunch of hooey. When the body is flooded with toxins and is just trying to sort through that, I don't believe the healing powers can be initiated. So, I believe that homeopathy really is most effective when you have healed the body to a certain extent. But that is just my opinion on the subject!

Tears of an Autism mom

This was a great article by Jean Winegardner on why Autism moms cry so much. Well, I have heard that raising a child with Autism puts us into the category of PTSD survivors. And boy, I believe it! Everyday can be a barrage, emotionally from dealing with state service providers, sometimes contentious school districts, the contempt from our own families many times, physical assaults from our own child and maybe even more painful, the guilt we often put on ourselves about our child's disorder. There is stress on marriages, stress on family relationships, friendships (I have had my share of friends who just "don't get it") and even the stress on siblings. And this is a daily thing, no reprieve, many times Autism families cannot even get childcare for a much needed date night or just a few minutes away to themselves. And oh the sleep deprivation! If that doesn't bring you to your knees I don't know what will! This life is not for the faint of heart and yes, maybe we do cry a lot.

I tend to hold it together pretty well, and like in this article, I am a big fan of the car and behind sunglasses. I have walked out of my son's school in tears, rushing to get to the haven of my car. Early on, I remember sobbing in the car after leaving my almost 3 year old, screaming and crying for me. The guilt of leaving him even if he did "need" the early intervention ate at me. Really? Really is he better off in this scary environment with people who don't really understand or know him than at home where I know him best and can calm his inflammed sensory system?? This journey forces us to do what most do not.

And as my son has begun to recover, it hasn't made the tears any less frequent. I am still forced to see my child's deficits in black and white like most parents do not. I remember the report from the school psychologist years ago when my son was in preschool and his "cognitive ability and IQ range". Punch, right to the gut. And then you start thinking of their future. And then at a stop light the other day I remembered that and look at him now, with his peers, doing all of the same things academically and I do a little internal "F YOU!" to those standardized tests and ANYONE who wants to count out my child. If anything that fuels my drive even more to ensure the roadblocks are removed inside his body to enable him to flourish the way he was meant to.

But on the flip side, this journey certainly has enabled me to see every small achievement, which is HUGE to us, in ways that many don't. When you have a child years behind in development, the first time they tell you "NO" is a wonderful thing! Now when my kids fight I now understand what neurotypical families talk about. Hallaleujah!! For so many years my son was without words, without the interest in his sisters. Now he seems hell bent on annoying them....typical brother! Ha, I just said TYPICAL! The word that provokes much joy from Autism families. Because although we know our children are extraordinary, we still strive for typical.

HERE is Jean's article.

Mercury in HFCS

This is old news and I have blogged this before but worth reposting. If you haven't decided that this little gem, HFCS, needs to be out of your diet, maybe this will help push you over that edge. What they found is that many products with HFCS also have mercury contamination. And coincidentally many of these same products have two or three (or fifteen) other ingredients that shouldn't go into your body or that of your growing child. But what disturbs me about this particular article is this comment "The good news is that mercury-free HFCS ingredients exist. Food companies just need a good push to only use those ingredients". Uhmmmm, I don't consider that good news. Even without the mercury, HFCS should not be ingested. It is not good for us, it is NOT the same as regular sugar and our body does know the difference-regardless of how many ads tell us otherwise (ads that are funded by the Corn Refiners Association by the way). Sugar in general has many negative side effects, including depressing the immune system. Ever wonder why cold and flu season tends to hit right around Halloween and goes all through winter and the holidays?? I have a sneaky suspicion the increase in sweet treat consumption has a little something to do with that. So, here is the article to read for your self.

The impact of diet and lifestyle on prostate cancer - a case for epigenetics

Well to my fellow "warrior" moms and dads (those who are treating Autism and other medical conditions in their children through many biomedical treatment approaches) this will not be surprising. We see it everyday. We see a "genetic" disorder that is being improved through dietary changes, supplementation, detox, chelation, treating yeast and bacterial overgrowth in the gut, etc. But this is pretty exciting. Anyone who has gone to a conference talking about the biomedical approach to Autism has heard about epigentics and the issue with our increasingly toxic environment making heritable changes in our genes and of course the negative health consequences that brings. So, this is pretty exciting to have more of this research come out in the mainstream. Although it really shouldn't be THAT hard to digest that our way of life has more to do with our health than just our genes. Eating healthy, organic, nutrition filled foods, exercise and stress management is good, while eating heavily processed, nutritionally void foods, not exercising and not managing stress can have a negative impact. In a word "DUH". When we flood our body with nutrients and remove toxins, it does what it does best, flourish, thrive, grow and heal. That means increases in proper immune function and cellular turnover and the ability to fight disease and cancer is increased. When we bog it down with bad food and toxins, it has to work hard to process that, it brings down immune function, or even worse stimulates it because of the food that is eaten causing auto-immunity, and therefore things like cancer can gain a foothold. So here is the article from Reuters. Maybe we're not so crazy afterall ;)

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By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:47pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comprehensive lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can lead not only to a better physique, but also to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

In a small study, the researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy.

The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation.

As expected, they lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and saw other health improvements. But the researchers found more profound changes when they compared prostate biopsies taken before and after the lifestyle changes.

After the three months, the men had changes in activity in about 500 genes -- including 48 that were turned on and 453 genes that were turned off.

The activity of disease-preventing genes increased while a number of disease-promoting genes, including those involved in prostate cancer and breast cancer, shut down, according to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research was led by Dr. Dean Ornish, head of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, and a well-known author advocating lifestyle changes to improve health.

"It's an exciting finding because so often people say, 'Oh, it's all in my genes, what can I do?' Well, it turns out you may be able to do a lot," Ornish, who is also affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco, said in a telephone interview.

"'In just three months, I can change hundreds of my genes simply by changing what I eat and how I live?' That's pretty exciting," Ornish said. "The implications of our study are not limited to men with prostate cancer."

Ornish said the men avoided conventional medical treatment for prostate cancer for reasons separate from the study. But in making that decision, they allowed the researchers to look at biopsies in people with cancer before and after lifestyle changes.

"It gave us the opportunity to have an ethical reason for doing repeat biopsies in just a three-month period because they needed that anyway to look at their clinical changes (in their prostate cancer)," Ornish said.

(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Xavier Briand)

B-12 deficiency

Below is a link to a blog article I read that I wanted to share. B-12 has done really amazing things for my son. When we started working with Dr. Woeller, injectible B-12 was the first therapy we implemented while we did labs and waited for them to be processed and reviewed to see where to go next. We saw changes in language and sleep patterns but also in eye contact and social connectedness. Like I said, he gets injectible but if you can't do injections but want B-12 in a good form, I use the Methyl Mate from New Beginnings but I switch out the top and use a nasal adapter. Research has shown that using B-12 nasally is almost as good as using an injection in terms of steady levels in the body. Sometimes we just have to get a little creative in our administration of things. I love my B-12 and use it almost daily (i.e. whenever my crazy schedule doesn't make me forget it!). So here is some additional info on B-12 and its importance, click HERE to read this article from Food Farm Health blog.

The Canary Party - Get behind it!

Now here's a party I can support!! Check them out HERE. Read their position paper below. It is about time!

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The Canary Party Position Paper
Friday, 27 May 2011 11:36


The time has come for a change. The mounting crisis in the health of children and other vulnerable groups has not only been ignored by medical authorities, it has been suppressed. As parents, citizens and advocates for the health of future generations, we must rise up to call attention to this crisis and take action to end it. In nominally democratic societies, which sadly are increasingly corrupted by the power of entrenched interests and the economy of influence that surrounds the medical industrial complex, we can most directly effect change by mobilizing for political action in order take action against these corrupt forces. It is time to come together to form The Canary Party.

This position paper addresses three questions surrounding the mission of

The Canary Party

1. What is the problem?

2. What is the solution?

3. What is to be done?



What is the problem?

In 19th century coalmines, canaries were used for the first time to detect the presence of poisonous gas accumulation deep in underground tunnels. Because their metabolisms run faster than humans, these small animals provided a crucial signal in dangerous times: the canaries would die from toxic gas releases before humans. Normally quite vocal, the silence of these songbirds was the signal of danger. Back then, miners whose lives depended on the absence of poisons paid close attention to the absence of the canary’s song. Today, as the rising power and spread of the medical industrial complex are taking an increasing toll on human health, we need to recognize the silenced canaries all around us.

What is this toll? Nothing less than a generation of sick, injured and dying children, children who are increasingly becoming young adults. American children are over vaccinated and over medicated, over fed, undernourished and have record levels of chronic illness and developmental delay.

As well, there is a direct toll of injured adults, especially those who serve in the military, subjected to an increased burden of inadequately tested, compulsory and even experimental vaccine exposures administered over a backdrop of multiple toxic exposures from prescription and over the counter medications, foods made from genetically modified organisms and laden with pesticides and preservatives, and tens of thousands of industrial compounds that did not exist a century ago.

In simplest terms, the medical industrial complex has launched a massive and uncontrolled experiment on a generation of Americans. In an unprecedented intervention in human immune development, this complex has succeeded in promoting an explosion in medical industry revenues and profits; this explosion has been accompanied, however, by an epidemic of death, disability and chronic disease, much of which can be traced directly to these medical and chemical exposures.

What is the medical industrial complex? It is no simple thing to describe, but our working definition is the partnership between the medical and pharmaceutical industry on one hand and the public health establishment on the other. This “public private partnership”--one which includes vaccine manufacturers like Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, associations of doctors like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association, and government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health—has steadfastly resisted the rising evidence of a crisis in human health, denying its existence, defending its prerogatives in the face of the crisis and pressing its own expansionist agenda in spite of widespread evidence that the medical model its members are advancing has failed consumers. The moral failing of this partnership agenda becomes all the more egregious as one reflects on the notion that the primary precept of medical ethics was once, “First, do no harm”.

The human toll of these experiments affects us all, but most visibly affects the vulnerable in our society, those who have the highest rate of exposure to this uncontrolled experimentation. These groups are modern day canaries and we must heed their silent suffering. They include

• Infants and children exposed to the most dramatic escalation in medical interventions and toxic exposures in human history, and subject to the new childhood epidemics of autism, ADHD, asthma, and food allergy,

o Autism now disables 1 in 100 American children, 1 in 60 boys

o Peanut allergies put the lives of nearly 2% of children at risk

o Asthma affects over 10% of American children, putting their lives at risk as well

• Child and adolescent victims of new experimental vaccines such as Gardasil

o Gardasil recipients have suffered close to 100 reported deaths

o Meanwhile, there are thousands of additional cases of serious adverse events and disability, many of them unreported, uninvestigated and suppressed

• Countless deaths and disabled victims in the soldiers and families of our armed forces

o Uncountable deaths and disabilities from the use of experimental vaccine adjuvants

o An epidemic of suicides (commonly blamed on post-traumatic stress disorder) haunts our service men and women, with large numbers of these suicides occurring among those never deployed in combat

• Adults and children suffering from the epidemic increases in auto-immune disease, disabling and potentially deadly conditions where the body’s own immune system turns against itself.

o Rising rates of celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome and colitis

o Epidemic rates of ALS, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Addison’s Disease, Guillain-Barré, Graves’ and countless other disabling conditions

In the investigation and management of these and other modern–day plagues, our leading medical institutions have done more than merely fail us, their conduct lies at the root of the problem. Their agents have censored important science, manipulated data, intimidated honest scientists, and deceived the public. Worst of all, they have cloaked themselves in the mantle of science and “evidence-based medicine” as they have circled the wagons to defend their policies, profits and programs. In the meantime, their conduct and behavior is perpetuating one of the most egregious and systematic episodes of scientific denial in human history.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned against this outcome half a century ago in his Farewell Address to the nation. In addition to citing the emergence of a military-industrial complex, he also cautioned that an unholy alliance of money, technology, and government power could corrupt public policy more broadly. “Scientific research,” he said, “could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.”

Today, despite Eisenhower’s warning, that reality is upon us, and its consequences are devastating. Public bureaucracies, professional associations and private corporations – groups whose interests and leaders are all but interchangeable -- have triggered a public health disaster that worsens by the day. Eisenhower’s early warning has emerged in full flower as the medical industrial complex.

Along the way, the press has also failed us. The rise of corporate media and the breathlessly predatory 24 hour news cycle has led most of the mainstream media to swallow the talking points of the medical industrial complex while it continues to accept the advertising expenditures of its corporate members. They hide behind the technical nature of the evidence and meekly accept the claims of the medical industry’s “experts.” Increasingly, media celebrities have joined the attack, leading the inquisition against courageous scientists while denying media access to the many compelling leaders of critical consumer groups.

Most important of all, our political institutions have been failing us, at least so far. No major political party or movement has taken up this complex of issues. The blame for this failure of political will is broadly distributed and largely explained by the triumph of ideology over evidence. In order for our movement to succeed, we must ask advocates to check their political biases at the door, find ways to connect with the most helpful impulses of larger-scale movements while recognizing the ideological obstacles to embracing our agenda for change.

• The progressive movement. In principle, progressives oppose Big Business and the corrupting influence of corporate money. At the same time, progressives embrace the concept of activist government and reflexively support areas in which “good government” can be defended as legitimate. Under this guise, progressives have actively promoted the expansion of the medical roles of Big Government and the expansion of the vaccination program, all in the interest of “progress.” Progressives gloss over the corrosive effect on government regulators of the “public-private partnerships” that pervade this expanding mandate.

• The conservative movement. By contrast, the conservative movement reflexively opposes the program and activities of Big Government but looks past the ambitions and technological agendas of Big Business. Despite widespread evidence of the failure of the pharmaceutical innovation model, conservatives have failed to recognize the necessity of regulatory vigilance in order to defend consumers from the rising risk of palliative medical intervention; they have simultaneously failed to recognize how the free market can break down when Big Business forges unholy alliances (“public-private partnerships”) with Big Government.

• The Green Party. A political movement dedicated to defending human populations against the excesses of industrial activity ought to be a natural ally of the victims of medical excess. Unfortunately, the environmental movement has narrowed its focus to the release of chemicals from industrial processes into the environment and has largely ignored the health effects of injecting toxic substances into vulnerable humans. Along the way, the environmental movement has allied itself with the progressive movement in its celebration of the effectiveness of regulatory intervention. Sadly, most “greens” have developed a blind spot when it comes to the silent canaries victimized by the medical industrial complex

• The Tea Party. Although the populist momentum captured by the Tea Party movement may prove receptive to the critique offered here, to date the movement’s motivating energy has stemmed more from concerns over the expanding economic footprint of Big Government than concerns over the health outcomes that have resulted from Big Government programs. Appropriately, the Tea Party has protested the rising intrusion of government in the issues that affect our lives and liberties; to date, however, the movement has been more concerned with reining in Big Government than the need for justice for the victims of expanded Big Government programs.

The unfettered march of the medical industrial complex is a threat to Western society as we know it: to the lives of children and those who serve and defend us in our armed forces, to our right to choose the medical procedures we receive and to our rights to participate in society if we dissent. This all must change.



What is the solution?

The first step toward political action is unity. As representatives of the silenced canaries, we can start by promoting a shared sense of identity. We have many advocates and impressive leaders, but our political movement is too often fragmented. Many different leaders pursue many different goals. This distributed model of advocacy is both a strength and a weakness. We can maintain our entrepreneurial spirit while also establishing a stronger sense of connection and shared identity.

Political power comes with numbers. And although the many potential constituencies coalesce within communities that provide their own strong and passionate cores, the problem we face is broader than any one of these communities. We can build a strong movement only by assembling the broadest possible base of support. There are many victims of the medical industrial complex who share similar concerns and sympathies and they are increasingly recognizing their shared concerns and interests.

In a broadly distributed movement of voluntary advocates, a command and control model of action will never serve. Rather than seeking compliance, we can concentrate our voice by coming together around a set of shared principles. We have seen the appeal of a principle-driven coalition in some of our political activity and can extend this approach to a platform in which we protest the corruption of our institutions while raising the alarm over the harm done to the canaries.

Refining our principles awaits the opportunity to meet, discuss and debate as a group, but defining them will surely involve this set of ideas: Awareness; Precaution; Safety; Choice; Freedom; Justice; Scientific Integrity; Compassion.

With the right statement of principles we can extend the reach of our efforts by forming a political party. This movement should appeal to a diverse constituency of advocates; it can and must be ecumenical with respect to political beliefs that don’t bear on our principles; by focusing on a limited set of principles, we can seek to influence the platforms of other leaders in political parties and movements; and although we may begin our efforts where our leaders reside, we must embrace a global vision in support for silenced canaries everywhere.

One source of strength in our movement is our broad base of advocates. We can exploit this strength by giving advocates the tools to begin engaging directly in the political and legislative process. Although our opponents have more resources to bring to bear at a national level and in the mainstream media, we can maximize our advantage if we extend our engagement to the broadest possible geographic base, including activities in Washington DC, all 50 states as well as county, city and local political and policy forums.

A broad based movement will help us in creating many occasions for victories including elections. These victories might be achieved through ballot questions, candidate questionnaires, legislative initiatives and even sponsoring candidates for office.

In addition to sponsoring our own agenda through the political process, the movement will also benefit from identifying high profile opponents of our agenda and taking the fight to them. Under the right circumstances, movements define themselves not only by what they stand for, but also whom they stand against.

In the long run, the solution to the problem of institutional corruption in the medical industrial complex will require wholesale shifts in policy, governance and representation in many areas. Part of our movement’s ultimate success will depend on our skill in laying out a detailed agenda for change and influencing the political process to implement those changes. This is a long-term process, one in which success may come slowly at first. Every journey, however, begins with the first step.



What is to be done?

The first steps of the journey require only a few simple steps. The first steps ahead of us are these.

1. Recruit and mobilize a core constituency. The leading groups from which this constituency might be drawn include, but are not limited to

• Parents and families of injured children

o Autism parents and high-functioning autistic individuals

o Peanut allergy parents and sufferers

o Parents of Gardasil victims

o Vaccine Injury Compensation Program participants, both winners and losers

• Adult victims of the medical industrial complex

• Military personnel and veterans

• Medical professionals and service providers who seek to provide an alternative to the failed approaches of the medical industrial complex

2. Hold a party convention, an occasion to convene a broad group of skilled and experienced advocates who can carry the Canary Party agenda forward.

3. Draft an initial platform, one based on principles around which broad agreement is strongest.

4. Develop a working vision of success and set goals and strategies to take the movement there.

5. Decide on a near term plan of action in order to generate early momentum and the maximum possible leverage for change. Possible action areas include

• Introducing local ballot questions

• Drafting questionnaires to submit to candidates for elective office in which they respond to The Canary Platform

• Designing and sponsoring legislative initiatives at the national, state and local level

• Fielding candidates for office, including local, state and national positions

• Engaging in impact litigation where and when the opportunity is deemed necessary and furthers the goals of the Canary Party.

• Beginning to meaningfully harvest, educate, and focus the current court of public opinion which legitimately questions the safety of vaccines and the schedule.

• Etc.



Early Signers:



Alison MacNeil, LICSW

Carol Stott, PhD, MSc (Epidemology), CSci, CPsychold

Dan Olmsted

Ginger Taylor, MS

Heather Fraser, MA

Jane Winans, MA

Jennifer Larson

Jerri Johnson

Jim Navarro

John Oller, PhD

Julie Obradovic, MA Ed

Kathryne Pirtle, MA

Laurette Janak

Leslie Phillips, MBA

Marian Greene

Mark Blaxill, MBA

Michael Belkin

Polly Tommy

Rebecca Estepp

Richard Rovet, RN, BSN, Capt. USAF (RET)

Sheri Tenpenny, DO, AOBNMM

Sylvia Pimentel

Cell phones and brain health

I think it was in one of the DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) conferences a few years ago where I sat and listened to the discussion about cell phone radiation and its impact on the brain. I remember seeing data on brain scans showing blood flood. We have this nifty thing called a blood brain barrier, which defined by Wikipedia is :

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a separation of circulating blood and the brain extracellular fluid (BECF) in the central nervous system (CNS). It occurs along all capillaries and consists of tight junctions around the capillaries that do not exist in normal circulation. Endothelial cells restrict the diffusion of microscopic objects (e.g. bacteria) and large or hydrophilic molecules into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), while allowing the diffusion of small hydrophobic molecules (O2, hormones, CO2). Cells of the barrier actively transport metabolic products such as glucose across the barrier with specific proteins. This barrier also includes a thick basement membrane and astrocytic endfeet.

So just to be clear, the blood brain barrier is a very good thing as it keeps out harmful bacteria and certain neurotoxins. As I listened to this presentation, they discussed how in the research they monitored the flow of blood into the brain using dye. Clearly the areas of the brain were not dyed because of this blood brain barrier. Yet, when a cell phone was placed next to the head, low and behold, that area of the brain became penetrable. Ruh roh!! Since then, I have been much more conscious of using my plugged headset (no blue tooths for the similar reasons). And for my children, I do NOT let them talk on my cell phone unless it is through the speaker phone. Radiation is harmful (see my blog post on microwaving your food too!) and we should avoid it when at all possible. Technology may be changing but our body and the way it handles these things hasn't. Reducing our exposures to the bad things as much as we can is certainly the prudent way to stay healthier longer. And, if you want to learn more, just look at some of the disorders that can come from compromised blood brain barriers (hint, those include Alzheimer's and MS!). No one is saying throw away every single cell phone but certainly be aware of what you are holding next to your brain for hours.

Here is an article on the best and worst offenders, to read it, click HERE

Foods to avoid by Dr. Mercola

Here is a wonderful article from Dr. Mercola on foods to avoid and why. One note about cans and BPA. We buy ALL of our canned goods from Eden Foods. They have a wide array of canned tomatoes, beans, etc. and they are the only manufacturer that I know of that uses cans without BPA. And we buy Eden Foods (and other organic and healthy foods and products) through Azure Standard www.azurestandard.com. Buying by the case once a month saves money and hey, every little bit counts!

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Food Matters asked seven experts a simple question: “What foods do you avoid?” Here are some of their eye-opening responses:

Canned Tomatoes

An endocrinologist won’t go near canned tomatoes -- the cans are lined with a resin containing BPA, and tomatoes are especially dangerous because their acid breaks the BPA down in dangerous amounts.

Conventional Beef

Conventional cattle are fed grain, corn and soy to make them fat, even though studies show that grass-fed beef is higher in important vitamins, minerals and heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory fats.

Microwave Popcorn

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) lines microwave popcorn bags, and when they are heated the compound, which has been linked to infertility, leaches onto the food.

Conventional Potatoes

Non-organic potatoes are heavily sprayed with herbicides, pesticides and fungicides -- many potato growers don’t eat the potatoes they sell, but instead they grow their own separate plots without all the chemicals.

Farmed Salmon

Farmed salmon are stuffed into pens and fed chicken feathers and pellets. A scientific study on fish contamination showed high levels of carcinogens such as DDT and PCBs.

Conventional Milk

Dairy cows are fed growth hormones to maximize milk production, which results in increased incidence of udder infection and pus in the milk.

Conventional Apples

Apples are heavily and frequently doused with pesticides -- pesticides that have been linked to Parkinson’s.

To find out more about these dangerous foods, click on the link below.
Sources:
Food Matters May 12, 2011



Dr. Mercola's Comments:


The seven supermarket foods featured by Food Matters all belong on the list of foods to avoid, for sure—although I wouldn't limit fruits to avoid to conventional apples.

I recommend checking out the Environmental Working Group's Shopper's Guide to Pesticides, which lists fruits and vegetables that contain the highest and lowest amounts of pesticides, as many are far more contaminated than apples. After all, you can peel an apple, but berries, for example, cannot be rid of pesticides, and many berries are heavily sprayed. I'd also like to add a few more foods to this list, effectively turning it into a Dirty Dozen list of foods to avoid when shopping at your local grocery store.

Genetically Modified Foods
Make no mistake about it; genetically modified (GM) foods may be one of the absolute most dangerous aspects of our food supply today. I strongly recommend avoiding ALL GM foods.

Since over 90 percent of all corn grown in the US is GM corn, and over 95 percent all soy is GM soy, this means that EVERY processed food you encounter at your local supermarket that does not bear the "USDA Organic" label likely contains one or more GM components.

To avoid GM foods, first memorize the following list of well-known and oft-used GM crops:

Corn Canola Alfalfa (New GM crop as of 2011)
Soy Cottonseed Sugar derived from sugar beets


The following fresh produce are also commonly GM:

•Zucchini
•Crookneck squash
•Hawaiian papaya
To effectively avoid GM foods, you need to avoid all products that list corn, soy, canola, and any of their derivatives as an ingredient, unless it's labeled USDA 100% Organic.

I also recommend downloading the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, created by the Institute for Responsible Technology, for more information about specific brands and products that do not use GM ingredients. You can also get the guide as a free iPhone application. It's available in the iTunes store—just search for ShopNoGMO in the applications.

It is important to remember to look for products (including organic products) that feature the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal. This seal assures that at-risk ingredients have been tested for GMO content. Many health food stores carry these products.

Please understand that unless you're buying all organic food, or grow your own veggies and raise your own livestock, or at the very least buy all whole foods (even if conventionally grown) and cook everything from scratch, chances are you're consuming GM foods every single day... What ultimate impact these GM foods will have on your health is still unknown, but increased disease, infertility and birth defects appear to be on the top of the list of most likely side effects.

Fructose
Additional exceedingly health-harming ingredients that you're bound to get in excess if you consume processed foods, soda, and other sweetened beverages, is fructose—typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Evidence is mounting that excess sugar, and fructose in particular, is the primary factor causing not just obesity, but also chronic and lethal disease. In fact, I am convinced that fructose is one of the leading causes of a great deal of needless suffering from poor health and premature death.

Many conventional health "experts," contend that sugar and fructose in moderation is perfectly okay and part of a normal "healthy" diet.

I couldn't disagree more.

The central issue behind my vigorous objection to this stance is that fructose is now used in virtually all processed foods (whether you'd suspect the food would contain a sweetener or not). Case in point: the number one source of calories in the US is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the form of soda!

Now, if you're able to keep your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day then it's not going to cause any major health issues. Unfortunately, while this is theoretically possible, precious few people are actually doing that. Cutting out a few desserts will not make a big difference if you're still eating a "standard American diet"—in fact, I've previously written about how various foods and beverages contain far more sugar than a glazed doughnut.

Because of the prevalence of HFCS in foods and beverages, the average person now consumes 1/3 of a pound of sugar EVERY DAY, which is five ounces or 150 grams, half of which is fructose. That's 300 percent more than the amount that will trigger biochemical havoc.

Remember that is the AVERAGE; many actually consume more than twice that amount.

For more details about the health dangers of fructose and my recommendations, please see my recent article Eliminate This ONE Ingredient and Watch Your Health Soar.

Artificial Sweeteners
Once you've made the decision to drastically cut down on sugar and fructose, please do NOT make the mistake of replacing it with artificially sweetened foods and beverages. It's important to understand that these are toxic substances that can wreak havoc in your body.

Artificial sweeteners, just like fructose, are also extremely prevalent in processed foods. Aspartame, for example, can be found in more than 6,000 products.

Not only have studies shown that "diet" foods and drinks ruin your body's ability to count calories, boosting your risk of weight gain, but they've also been associated with a slew of negative health effects, such as intestinal damage, diabetes, brain damage, pre-term delivery and cancer, just to name a few of the more serious ramifications. Acesulfame potassium (or Acesulfame-K) is yet another artificial sweetener, which has been linked to kidney tumors.

Diet Water
Plain, pure water is by far the most healthful beverage you can conceive of. You need water in order to survive. However, slick marketing campaigns have managed to turn an essential part of your diet into a pure disaster... Leave it to the food and beverage industry to find a way to turn perfectly healthful water into a toxic slurry.

I'm talking about flavored water, "zero calorie" water, and so-called "enhanced" or "functional" water products.

For example, the latest water enhancement product to hit the market is called MiO, which is a mixture of two artificial sweeteners, three dyes, one preservative, and propylene glycol (PG)—a solvent that can potentially result in cell mutations and skin, liver, and kidney damage, if ingested in high enough amounts.

I recently completed a special report on this and related water products, which will be posted shortly.

If you aren't already an avid label reader, it's time you became one, lest you fall prey to these clever marketing ploys. Enhanced waters have become an enormously lucrative business as people have begun to abandon soda for what they believe are better alternatives.

Avoid being fooled!

Because in addition to artificial sweeteners and dyes, these enhanced water products can also contain enormous amounts of sugar and fructose, adding to the numerous health problems caused by excessive fructose consumption.

For example, Glaceau VitaminWater (made by the Coca-Cola Company) has a whopping 33 grams of sugar per 20-ounce bottle, which is only 6 grams less than a can of Coke. Additionally, the fructose found in VitaminWater is the worst possible kind—crystalline fructose—which is even more damaging to your health than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Crystalline fructose is 99 percent fructose, whereas HFCS is only 55 percent fructose!

Clearly, any type of water but PLAIN purified water is NOT going to improve your health, and should be avoided entirely.

Processed Meats
Lastly, processed meats, such as hot dogs, deli meats, bacon, and pepperoni contain dangerous compounds, which put them squarely on the list of foods to avoid or eliminate entirely. These compounds include:

•Heterocyclic amines (HCAs): a potent carcinogen, which is created when meat or fish is cooked at high temperatures.
•Sodium nitrite: a commonly used preservative and antimicrobial agent that also adds color and flavor to processed and cured meats.
•Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): Many processed meats are smoked as part of the curing process, which causes PAHs to form.
•Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs): When food is cooked at high temperatures—including when it is pasteurized or sterilized—it increases the formation of AGEs in your food. AGEs build up in your body over time leading to oxidative stress, inflammation and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.
This recommendation is backed up by a recent report commissioned by The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). The review, which evaluated the findings of more than 7,000 clinical studies, was funded by money raised from the general public, so the findings were not influenced by vested interests. It's also the biggest review of the evidence ever undertaken, and it confirms previous findings: Processed meats increase your risk of cancer, especially bowel cancer, and NO amount of processed meat is "safe."

A previous analysis by the WCRF found that eating just one sausage a day raises your risk of developing bowel cancer by 20 percent, and other studies have found that processed meats increase your risk of:

•Colon cancer by 50 percent
•Bladder cancer by 59 percent
•Stomach cancer by 38 percent
•Pancreatic cancer by 67 percent
Processed meats may also increase your risk of diabetes by 50 percent, and lower your lung function and increase your risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). If you absolutely want or need a hot dog or other processed meats once in awhile, you can reduce your risk by:

•Looking for "uncured" varieties that contain NO nitrates
•Choosing varieties that say 100% beef, 100% chicken, etc. This is the only way to know that the meat is from a single species and does not include byproducts (like chicken skin or chicken fat or other parts)
•Avoiding any meat that contains MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives, artificial flavor or artificial color
Ideally, purchase sausages and other processed meats from a small, local farmer who can tell you exactly what's in their products.

GMO-based bug threatens US food supply

As Scooby Doo would say "Rut Roh!". Read this latest article from the wonderful Alison Rose Levy.

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Connecting the Dots: Novel GMO-Based Bug Threatens U.S. Food Supplies
Posted: 05/16/11 02:20 PM ET A newly discovered pathogen, visible only under an electron microscope, is destroying plants and undermining the health of livestock -- thereby posing a deadly risk to the U.S. food supply, a senior plant pathologist warned USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

In a January 2010 letter to Vilsack, (a former Iowa governor and agribusiness champion, appointed by President Obama) Dr. Don Huber advised caution in introducing additional GMO crops. But just weeks later, the USDA approved expansion of GMO crops to include alfalfa, the most widespread animal feed crop. The unnamed bug already runs rampant in current GMO Roundup Ready baseline food crops (corn and soy), and spreads from there to the animals who feed on them, says Huber, a Professor Emeritus at Purdue University. In addition to his thirty-five years in academic science, Huber is also a retired Colonel, who evaluated natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks for the military.

The GMO Roundup Ready crops are designed to be used with the Monsanto herbicide, Roundup, a glyphosate that leads to severe micronutrient deficiencies in soil that scientists now say are leading to increased crop failure. Scientists have detected a higher prevalence of the opportunistic pathogen in the depleted glyphosate treated soil. It is also found in higher rates in the livestock that feed off of the Roundup crops. Infertility and spontaneous abortion are on the rise within these cattle and dairy populations, with infertility at 20% and a 45% abortion incidence in certain animals. "It's infectious to cattle, pigs, poultry and horses, and will kill a fertilized egg," says Huber in one of a series of video interviews posted on YouTube. "It can readily reproduce, and it's compatible with other organisms." Watch the video here.

In his January 2011 letter, Huber cautioned against expanding GMO into alfalfa, which he characterizes as "the number one forage crop" that nourishes livestock. "Why place it in jeopardy?" Huber asked in the series of videos, predicting that, "In five years you won't have anything but Roundup Ready alfalfa. If we see a new organism which makes it a hazard to animal survival -- what's the urgency?"

Organic farmers have sued Monsanto preemptively to protect themselves from legal action from the GMO producer when the GMO alfalfa contaminates organic seed, which cannot be prevented once GMO alfalfa is planted. Food Democracy Now is circulating a letter asking President Obama and Secretary Vilsack to "halt the sale and planting of Monsanto's recently approved Roundup Ready® GMO alfalfa and sugar beets until independent, peer-reviewed studies can be conducted to determine whether or not these products pose a threat to plant, animal and human health."

Connecting the Dots from personal health to our total health environment. Subscribe for free to make your voice heard for health, food, water, and the environment at: www.healthjournalistblog.com and on Facebook.

Are YOU a real foodie??

I couldn't help but laugh as I read through this going "yep, yep, yep that too!". I think many of my friends who read this blog are going to be able to relate too. Happy Tuesday! ;)

From www.healthhomehappy.com

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You Might Be A Real Foodie If…
By Cara, on July 26th, 2010
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You might be a real foodie if…

You leave milk out on the counter overnight… on purpose
You know what CLO stands for
You have a giant container of vinegar in your bathroom
Mason jars are your drinking glasses - Anyone who knows me KNOWS this is true! ;)
Your blood pressure raises when you hear public service announcements about anything health related
You’re more likely to recommend an elimination diet than a medication
You get excited talking about mushrooms
You have a ‘milk pool’ rather than a car pool
You’ve taken pictures of your children with the cows that make the milk they drink.
You ferment.
You buy your fats in gallon (or 5 gallon!) buckets
You can smell the ammonia in conventional beef
You shop for clothes at Good Will in order to be able to afford grassfed beef
From others:

You just might be a real foodie if…

You have jars of homemade whey in your refrigerator…and you use them. (Mira)
You know the best place to purchase bulk herbs to make your own pregnancy tea. (April)
You have actual conversations with the people who provide you with eggs, milk, pastured chickens, vegetables, etc. (Laurie)
You lie awake at night brainstorming where you could construct housing for dairy goats. (Julia)
You have more concoctions brewing on the kitchen counter than the average high school science lab. (Julia)
You can’t enjoy a good meal at a restaurant because you’re assessing the pesticide load of the veggies, stressing over how the meat and dairy animals were raised, and bemoaning which ingredients would be soooo much better if only they were lacto-fermented. (Julia)
You think of a shot as having your daily dose of beet kvass (Patricia)
You actually cry over *raw* spilled milk. (Kat)
You can never keep up with all the egg whites accumulating in your fridge. (Kat) I use them for this cake! We make it at least once a week now
Skim milk is what you feed to your pets or garden after you make butter for yourself. (Kat)
You personally know the farmer who raises the meat/fowl and grows the produce you feed your family. (Linda)
People ask why you make everything from scratch and “Why can’t you just buy it??” (Audrey)
Your friends and family wonder why you’re not fat with all the butter, lard, and bacon grease you use. (Audrey)
The farmers market is the highlight of your week during the summer. (Audrey)
You get asked frequently “Why don’t you just take medication for it?” (Audrey)
You’re always trying to find a way to sneak in more butter, cream, cultured dairy, or, really, anything that’s been fermented. (Audrey)
Your friends are afraid to eat the food you prepare because you tell them of the benefits of all the ‘live’ food and how proud you are of all the ‘bugs’ in it! (Nadine)
You’re on the hunt for “vintage” cookbooks where all they HAD to cook with was REAL food! (Cindy)
Your child sees farm animals and instead of saying, “Aw, how cute!” he says, “Yum!” and licks his lips. (Jenny)
Your child makes up little songs about ferments- “komubucha, komucha, COOOOOMMMMMMMEandgititBUCHA!” (Barb)
Your first question when you go to a restaurant is, “Do you have real butter? Are you SURE it’s real?” (Kelly)
You design your house/remodel/look for a house with fermenting in mind! I have decided I must had a culturing / fermentation center either in the kitchen or the walk in pantry. (Pam)
You get excited about raw butter and you leave it to warm on the counter. (Alex)
You comment on how lovely your mother is and you mean your Kombucha scoby! (Alex)
You have a love affair with your cast iron skillet and treat it like a child! (Alex)
You will go to (almost) any lengths to procur raw dairy for your family (Alex)
You own at least one chest freezer. (Ann Marie)
All you want for your birthday is a grain mill. (Ann Marie)
You have a bucket of coconut oil the size of Montana. (Ann Marie)
You consider the fermenting capabilities of just about any cylindrical container you come across. (Barb)
Other people look in your fridge and can’t find anything to eat… because they don’t recognize anything (Meike)
Friends and family ask you if they’re gonna get sick if they eat our food because they see so much sitting out on the counter(Meike)
Your kids know how each veggie came to be and that eggs come from the “CHICKEN BUTT” in the backyard (Diana)
You have chicken feet simmering in a crock pot on your counter, along with necks and bones and other social discards! (Tina)
You are brainstorming how to create a root cellar! (Tina)
You realize you’ve completely flipped your budget, that most goes to the farmer’s market and only a small share to the actual grocery. (Tina)
Your grocery store receipt has zero tax on it. That’s because you didn’t buy anything processed, there’s no tax on real food. (Mira)
you try to convince your friends and family to eat more good fat! (Jen Marie)
you wish you had two crock pots, two blenders, two BOSCH mixers, and a never ending supply of widemouth mason jars. (Jen Marie)


This is all in fun, my friends! Please don’t be offended. And I’d love you to join in in the comments section! How do you know someone might be a real foodie? Which ones can you identify with?

(Part of Real Food Wednesday)

The effect of diet on health and disease

This will not be news to many of you in the field of biomed or who have healed your children and yourselves of many illness thanks to major changes to your diet. There is such a thing as epigenetics or how our environment impacts our gene expression. In a nutshell, what we are exposed to and what we eat tells our body which genes to turn on and off, including genes that predispose us to cancer. That is why not EVERYONE in the same family gets cancer. And for those of you who seem to think that cancer is random, like getting your number pulled in the lottery, well you may want to read up a little more. What we put into and on our bodies matters. And for those of you who say "Oh I can eat gluten or XYZ food, it doesn't bother me." Really??? Do you have signs of chronic inflammation? Do you have ezcema? Do you have allergies, arthritis, or other auto-immune issues? If you answered yes, you may want to look at your diet. For every person those food intolerances will be different too but I think there is so little thought about what food goes into our body these days.

Never have we had more processed and nutritionally VOID foods as we do now. And MANY people have reactions to foods that they are not associating with foods. You have to do some testing or do an elimination trial to really see what's going on, maybe some muscle testing. To just say "It doesn't bother me" because you do not swell up and turn blue is like sticking your head in the sand. You have to go out of your way to feed your body in a healthy manner. But when we understand what an impact it has on us developing diseases down the road, especially cancer, doesn't it seem like it is worth it? Maybe I am jaded these days. I have had to keep my trap shut because I cannot change everyone's mind and many people don't WANT to change. It is hard when I see children already going down that path to ill health.

Someone who has not been on this journey cannot understand what I have seen just in my child and my family. If I did not consider that diet could impact my son's brain function and health and I took what my standard pediatrician said, good God where would he be today???? Probably STILL nonverbal, probably STILL not sleeping, ezcema, chronic gut issues, he's probably be on a allergy pill and a steroid cream and all the other phamraceutical "bandaids" we throw on something to mask the true breakdown in our body. And we are so thankful that we did look outside of the box, found Dr. Woeller and thus began this journey of understanding more about health in general but healing our son's Autism. What I continue to learn from Dr. Woeller astounds me when I look back at where I started and how much I have changed. We have been blessed to find both him and our pediatrician, Dr. Carrie Rittling, who blend the traditional medical model and alternative medicine so beautifully. So please read the article below, maybe it will be something useful to you or someone you know and care about.

This article is from www.organicauthority.com and written by Jill Ettinger.

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New Study Suggests Food May Play Larger Role in Health than Genetics
April 30th, 2011 - Jill Ettinger
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It was Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, who made the simple observation more than 2,000 years ago: “Let thy food be thy medicine”. And now, there seems to be a good deal of science to back him up.

An article published in the journal, Biochemical Pharmacology, presents significant findings connecting the dots between food and nutrition choices as it relates to disease prevention, treatment and reduction.

Inflammation is often the source of many common illnesses including heart disease, arthritis, allergies, obesity and even certain types of cancer. While scientists have known for some time that diet plays a role in inflammation, they have also long thought genetics significantly impacted the risks of developing these health issues.

The team of researchers who conducted this recent study now suggest that while certain conditions are in fact genetic, it’s likely not as many as we think. Specifically, chronic health problems are often a result of our environment and lifestyle habits, which affect genetic behavior altering how an individual ‘s genes respond to certain stimuli.

These changes, because they’re not inherent to the genes, means they can be prevented, treated and even reversed through particular changes in diet and lifestyle habits as well as with the help of some drugs.

Inflammation can be reduced through removing certain items from the diet such as alcohol, red meat, excessive sugar and salt, and adding in whole grains, beans and fresh fruits and vegetables, specifically those grown organically, which not only reduces the risk of contact with disease-causing pesticides and fertilizers, and genetically modified ingredients, but organic foods have an average antioxidant capacity that is 25 percent higher than non-organic options.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Gratitude

So I have a little explaining to do for anyone who follows my blog. I have had a few wonderful people who have friend requested me through Facebook and asked in a roundabout way "so what's up, you haven't blogged lately". That is true.

My family and I took off for California to spend my birthday and the kids' spring break at Disneyland for a few days. On the day we were set to return, my Dad collapsed and died suddenly. Luckily we were just an hour and a half away and I could get there quickly to mourn with my family. I have the world's best friend, Jen P., and have been so blessed to have had her by my side since 3rd grade. She dropped everything and was my "husband" for the next week and a half as I muddled through my new "normal", a life without my big strong father whom I adore. My husband was so wonderful, keeping my kids away from their mom falling apart and the parts of death that I do not feel they are ready to see yet. My dear mother in law put our crew up and helped my husband with all of the things that go into our lives, and the fact that we have a child with Autism which adds to the normal chaos that comes with small children. Constant supervision, lots of food prep and shopping were all required as were the on-the-fly arrangements for overnight shipments of supplements that we could not live without for my son.

We had just gotten home and settled when Jen needed a heart catheterization procedure the following Friday to see what has been going on with her heart. You see Jen has had a pacemaker since we were 10, she has Tetralogy of Fallot which is congenital heart disorder. My world was shaken again. She made it through just fine but certainly anytime anything regarding your heart is involved, it is scary. And the findings of the procedure point to the necessity of another open heart surgery in her somewhat near future.

The very next week my husband was out of town and the day he returned, Friday, was the anniversary of HIS Dad's death. We got the stunning news that my mother in law has colon cancer. Eric made the trip back to San Diego to be there with her. I am happy to say it went well and she is recovering now.

The day after her surgery we learned our very good friends who moved to North Carolina last year were hit by a tornado. The blows just seem to keep coming.

This last week Eric was gone again for work. We are finally taking a big breath and just trying to find this new normal and heal as a family. Losing a parent shakes you to the core, and maybe you have no idea what that means until it happens to you. I have been so overwhelmed at the outpouring of love and support though, some from people I only know through the internet. It is humbling and wonderful. It is times like these that you really understand who will be beside you no matter what. And this experience has really shown me how fleeting life can be and I need to support those who are truly there for me and let the rest of the stuff go. The pain of losing my Dad continues to hit me, a memory that I can never again ask him about, a picture that brings me to a time when I could still hug him, the fact that I will never again get his advice on something, and the most searing pain, the fact that my children will grow up without the blessing of this man in their physical lives makes my heart literally ache.

So, that is why I have not blogged much since early March. I am trying to get back into the swing of things but it is taking time. I thank each of my blog readers so much, I have learned so much just doing this blog because of the great questions and interacting with people I would never have gotten the chance to. So please bear with me while I try and get back into my stride. The blog will continue, and I do have lots of wonderful news to share about my son's recovery from Autism. This week has been especially astounding and I will be sharing that soon, I promise. But in the meantime, please know that I have not given up this blog and very soon I will be back to it!! And again, thanks for reading and your support!

Toxins in our kids' foods

No shocker here, just more information, especially for moms out there feeding our families. This type of stuff should be criminal, using ingredients that are known to cause issues, especially in our little ones. And to add insult to injury, they make a SAFER product to ship overseas? Right, because evidently they have tougher regulations or subscribe to the "dangerous until proven safe" theory. Why don't we subscribe to that as well? Childhood diabetes, on the rise, childhood obesity, on the rise, childhood arthritis, on the rise, Autism, on the rise, ADHD, on the rise, allergies, on the rise. Clearly we are not doing something right. At what point do we wake up and realize what we let little Johnny put into his body is having a detrimental effect? Does it take the call from the teacher suggesting ADHD? Does it take developing diabetes? Does it take them growing up to have a child with Autism? When do we start leaving the crap on the shelves, understanding WHAT those ingredients are and until we KNOW what they do to us, don't feed it to our kids. What happened to fresh fruit, cut up carrots and broccoli? Nowadays the school "snacks" are cheetos and "peanut butter" crackers. Read the ingredients, get involved, know what you are doing to your kids' bodies. WE make the decisions, WE need to take control and make a positive impact on our kids and the next generation. Did you know that the lovely combo of citric acid and sodium benzoate (when heated) create benzene in the body? Benzene is a carcinogen that is only excreted very, very slowly from the body. See how many products have those two (I will give you a hint, quite a few). This was just one tidbit presented at a DAN! conference, the class? Protecting your child from a toxic world by Dr. Freedenfeld. That's right, WE have to protect our kids. Our FDA will not, the food manufacturers will not. If you assume that a product on the shelf is safe then you need to think again. And how many other ingredients react with other ingredients, trying to do that matrix is overwhelming. If you can't pronounce it, it comes in artificial colors/flavors or you don't know what it does, I challenge you to NOT put it in your child for the next week. And just for fun, keep a log of behaviors. We all need to educate ourselves on these ingredients that are commonplace in this country and what detrimental impact they may be having on your child's health. Our kids are counting on us!

From the Enviroblog

Toxins in Our Kids' Foods: Where is the FDA?
April 4, 2011
Guest Post by Laurie David and Robyn O'Brien, EWG Board Member

Yesterday, in the face of a just- released report by the National Cancer Institute that showed a 9.4% increase in childhood cancer between 1992 and 2007(1), the FDA let moms and dads all across America, down. Instead of making the long overdue move to do something serious about getting rid of toxic food dyes so ubiquitous in our food supply, they instead fell back on those two simple words so often used to stall, delay and deny..."more research." In kitchens across this country, eight dyes, currently being used by manufacturers can be found in everything from packaged macaroni and cheese, breakfast cereal to practically every piece of candy your child has ever put in its mouth. Links are being found to hyperactivity in kids (ADHD), cancer and serious food allergies. (2) But here is the truly crazy thing. Kraft, Coca Cola and Wal-Mart have already removed these artificial food colors and dyes from the same products that they distribute in other countries. They did it in response to consumer demand and an extraordinary study called the Southampton Study. The Southampton Study (3) was unusual in that it tested children on a combination of two ingredients: tartrazine (yellow #5) and sodium benzoate. The study's designers knew that a child very rarely has occasion to ingest just a synthetic color or just a preservative; rather, a child who is gobbling up multicolored candies is probably taking in several colors and at least one preservative. What's amazing is that in the U.K., the federal food safety agency actually funded the Southampton Study that led to even U.S. corporations eliminating synthetic colors and sodium benzoate from their U.K. products. And in response, a whole host of companies, including the U.K. branches of Wal-Mart, Kraft, Coca Cola and the Mars candy company (who make M&Ms), have voluntarily removed artificial colors, the preservative sodium benzoate, and even aspartame from their products. Particularly those marketed to kids. Take a close look at the ingredient list for the product below.

Our American companies had removed these harmful ingredients from their products overseas--but not here! Kraft, Coca Cola and Wal-mart are living proof that it is possible for giant corporations to make and sell kid-friendly, family-friendly, and healthy processed food without necessarily exposing them to a chemical cocktail that might also give them allergic reactions, brain tumors, or leukemia, or the symptoms of ADHD, as the Center for Science in the Public Interest recently highlighted in their report "Rainbow of Risks". No need to go through all the numbers for increased health problems here. You've heard them all and it isn't pretty. For goodness sake, no more research necessary. Lets stop poisoning our own kids. Lets start assuming chemicals are dangerous until proven safe, not the other way around. Is it too much to ask the FDA and the processed food companies for the same value to be placed on the lives of the American kids in their cost-benefit analyses that has been placed on the lives of kids in the UK? Moms, we can create that same change here. And with 51 million moms waking up to the dangers that toxins present to the health of our kids, our numbers are equivalent to the entire population of Spain. Time to get down to business, level the playing field for our kids, and send a message to these companies. Vote with your pocketbook today, this weekend, next month as you grocery shop for your family. Because while the American children only represent 30% of our population, they are 100% of our future. So while the FDA may not value their lives accordingly, we can. Notes: 1. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, March 31, 2011 DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djr141 2. Rainbow of Risks, http://www.cspinet.org/new/201006291.html 3. Southampton Study http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/additivesbehaviourfinrep.pdf