How Independent are Vaccine Defenders?

How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?
Sharyl Attkisson Investigates Vaccine Advocates Taking Funding From The
Companies Whose Vaccines They Endorse


Pediatrician, Vaccine Scrutiny
Government officials and some scientists say there's no link between
vaccines and autism ? And they're often backed by independent experts. But
how "independent" are they? Sharyl Attkisson reports.
(CBS) For years some parents and scientists have raised concerns about
vaccine safety, including a possible link to autism and ADD. Many
independent experts have sided with government officials and other
scientists who say there's no possible connection. But how "independent" are
they? CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson shares here's
what she found.




They're some of the most trusted voices in the defense of vaccine safety:
the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and pediatrician Dr.
Paul Offit.

But CBS News has found these three have something more in common - strong
financial ties to the industry whose products they promote and defend.

The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy of Pediatrics for
conferences, grants, medical education classes and even helped build their
headquarters. The totals are kept secret, but public documents reveal bits
and pieces.


A $342,000 payment from Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine - which
makes $2 billion a year in sales.

A $433,000 contribution from Merck, the same year the academy endorsed Merck
s HPV vaccine - which made $1.5 billion a year in sales.

Another top donor: Sanofi Aventis, maker of 17 vaccines and a new
five-in-one combo shot just added to the childhood vaccine schedule last
month.

Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all
children, admits the group takes money from the vaccine industry, too - but
wouldn't tell us how much.

A spokesman told CBS News: "There are simply no conflicts to be unearthed."
But guess who's listed as the group's treasurers? Officials from Wyeth and a
paid advisor to big pharmaceutical clients.

Then there's Paul Offit, perhaps the most widely-quoted defender of vaccine
safety.

He's gone so far as to say babies can tolerate "10,000 vaccines at once."

This is how Offit described himself in a previous interview: "I'm the chief
of infectious disease at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor
of pediatrics at Penn's medical school," he said.

Offit was not willing to be interviewed on this subject but like others in
this CBS News investigation, he has strong industry ties. In fact, he's a
vaccine industry insider.

Offit holds in a $1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital,
funded by Merck. He holds the patent on an anti-diarrhea vaccine he
developed with Merck, Rotateq, which has prevented thousands of
hospitalizations.

And future royalties for the vaccine were just sold for $182 million cash.
Dr. Offit's share of vaccine profits? Unknown.

There's nothing illegal about the financial relationships, but to critics,
they pose a serious risk for conflicts of interest. As one member of
Congress put it, money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the
practices of those who hold themselves out to be "independent. "

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two and Dr. Offit would
not agree to interviews, but all told us they're up front about the money
they receive, and it doesn't sway their opinions.

Today's immunization schedule now calls for kids to get 55 doses of vaccines
by age 6.

Ideally, it makes for a healthier society. But critics worry that industry
ties could impact the advice given to the public about all those vaccines. Article on the Web

HPV Vaccine Info

It has been awhile since I have been on my HPV vaccine soap box but in the last month I heard/read reports of more than 8 deaths from the vaccine! The part that upsets me the most is they are calling it a cancer vaccine, but contracting HPV doesn't automatically mean you will develop cervical cancer. Most cases clear on their own, with the person never even knowing they had it! Below is a list that was compiled recently with some of the main facts about the vaccine (the ones your doctor isn't going to be telling you). It also includes a link to the VAERS website which will show just how many adverse reactions have been reported (again the FDA estimates only 10% of adverse reactions are reported...) Stepping down now ;)
Marci


Doctors are pushing the HPV Vaccine, Gardasil on many women, young
girls, and there is talk of it being marketed for boys (throat
cancer).

What the doctors fail to tell their patients is:

There are over 100 subtypes of HPV. You are only vaccinating against
4. If you are sexually active and have been exposed to one of the 4
strains that you are vaccinating against, you dramatically increase
your risk of cervical cancer.

95% of HPV cases resolve on their own and do not turn into cervical
cancer (without vaccinating for it).

This vaccine was approved for use in girls 9 - 26 years of age.

It was only tested by the drug manufacturer on 1,200 girls (none young)
before the FDA approved it. They are relying on adverse reactions
reported to determine its true safety (which they do with most
vaccines - post market studies). The FDA doesn't test anything - they
leave that to all drug manufacturers.

Several young girls who have never had sex before reportedly developed
genital warts from the vaccine.

The vaccine actually contains a cultered sexually transmitted disease.

The vaccine contains Boric Acid (aka Sodium Borate) which is a known
ant-killer. Although the FDA has banned Boric Acid in any amount in
our food supply, they approved it for use in the vaccine. It is also
known to decrease fertility in lab animals.

After this vaccine came on the market, within 15 months there were over
3,400 adverse reaction reports filed (to include death and many life-
threatening situations were the patient did not recover). This is
pretty scary considering the Center for Disease Control Admits that
less than 10% of reactions are even reported and less than 1% of
serious reactions are ever reported also.

This vaccine comes with a long list of side effects to include:

Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Loss of Consciousness, Seizures, Convulsions,
Swollen Body Parts, Facial Paralysis (a form of GBS), Heart/Kidney
Disorders, Arthritis, Joint Pain, Difficulty Breathing, Miscarriages,
Birth Defects, Menstrual Irregularities, Genital Warts, Vaginal
Lesions, HPV infection, and Death.

If you wish to view all reports filed on this vaccine, click on the
link below.

vaers.hhs.gov

Herd Immunity

The term "herd immunity" is one that is used often when speaking of vaccines. The medical, or allopathic theory is that since not everyone can be vaccinated, everyone that can be vaccinated needs to be, to protect "the herd". As I have gotten farther into my research and education on vaccines I wasn't surprised (though you may be) to find that there are those of us who do NOT want protection from these diseases in any other form than natural immunity. My children would be far better off with a case of the measles and life long immunity this way, than a vaccine that claims to last around 5-10 years with lifelong boosters required. Initially I was extremely fearful of my children contracting these "vaccine preventable" diseases. I want all to know in my research of vaccines I have also spent countless hours learning about the reality of these diseases. The doctors who support vaccination, media, and fearful parents do a good job of instilling fear into parents causing them to think that vaccines are the best route. Once you recognize the fear that is built around these once common childhood illnesses, it becomes hard to justify a vaccine. As more and more vaccines are produced when are you going to say enough! Looking at the list of vaccines do you know what they are for? Do you know the reality of the disease? Did you know that as vaccines suppress one disease others are emerging. Even if you aren't questioning vaccines and their safety, you should question how much you know about them. Vaccine encyclopedia Vaccine Information Website. Also educate yourself on vaccine reactions, the paper that the doctor gives you before the shots are administered are a great starting point. Just because it is listed on that paper doesn't mean it is normal, just common. Fevers, screaming, lethargy, are 3 of the most common, and while a doctor would have you believe okay, a fever after a shot is the bodies way of trying to rid itself of poinsons (along the same lines of fever when sick). Ask yourself how much you know, and then ask how much you want to know... We are only able to become voices of safety for ours, and our children's health when we are educated! The following is an excellent explanation of herd immunity written by Meryl Dorey of Australia's vaccine advocate organization avn.org (a great place to start your research)


"And actually, herd immunity itself never had any relation to
vaccination. I remember hearing Viera Scheibner speak about this and I
think it's in her book which is now out of print, as well.

There was a researcher in the 1930's named Hedrich (not sure if I've
spelled that right or not - doing this from memory) who was studying
cattle - an actual HERD! LOL Anyway, there was a disease that lots of
cattle get and what he found was that when enough of the calves had
contracted this disease and recovered from it, there would be a long
inter-epidemic period when there might be a sporadic case or two, but
there would not be any epidemics until there were enough susceptible
young cattle around to sustain a larger outbreak. This was then called
herd immunity. He found that when approximately 60-65% of the cattle
were immune due to infection, there would be a period of 3 to 4 years
without an outbreak. Then, the outbreak would occur - not because of any
lifetime immunity amongst the population - but simply because young
cattle had been born and did not have this native immunity from
infection.

Herd immunity NEVER had anything to do with vaccinations.. It was simply
a concept which was opportunistically grabbed by people who had a
vaccine barrow to push and spread by the media which neither thinks nor
questions any statements made by doctors or pharmaceutical company
goons.

Today in both the US and Australia (the only countries whose statistics
I am familiar enough with to make this comment) though vaccination
against whooping cough is in excess of the rates postulated to represent
herd immunity - when we have been told that there will be no disease at
all - we have more cases of whooping cough per capita than at any time
since prior to mass vaccination campaigns began.

Now, if whooping cough vaccination provided even MINIMAL protection from
the disease, we would expect to have seen a decline in incidence.
Instead, we have seen incidence shoot up.

This is because vaccines only produce antibodies - and as has been said
many times - antibodies do not equal immunity.

Herd immunity has nothing to do with vaccination and will never mean the
end of disease - it is only a term meant to indicate that there are
either more or less susceptible individuals in the 'herd' being studied.

And as an interesting side note - one effect that vaccinations have had
on the herd immunity has been to shorten the inter-epidemic period
between outbreaks. These used to occur with most childhood diseases in
3-5 year cycles. That cycle has now been shortened for most of these
illnesses to 2-3 years apart. Great job vaccine! NOT!"

All the best,
Meryl

The LIVER

I have wanted to do a post on this for a long time, but the information is so much, and condensing it is a challenge. Therefore, there may be some good follow up articles on this, as well as many more updates on this alone. I hear you ask what is it? The LIVER! I didn't know much about how my body worked (the basics from high school health class) and to be honest didn't really care. As I became more enlightend about my health, my desire to know how my body worked grew. The first organ that I learned more about was the liver, and to date it is still my favorite. It helped encourage me to change me diet, upon learning that I really am what I eat. I am sure that at another time in my life I would have recieved this information and brushed it off with an, that will never happen to me attitude. Now I am grateful for the information and the knowledge that I AM in control of what happens to my body, the illnesses, the diesease, and complications that may arise are a direct result of my choices. Let's begin:
What is the Liver? The liver is the largest internal organ in the human body and is present in vertebrates and some other animals. The liver is necessary for survival; a human can only last up to 24 hours without liver function. The adult human liver normally weighs between 1.4 - 1.6 kilograms (3.1 - 3.5 pounds),[4] and it is a soft, pinkish-brown, triangular organ. Averaging about the size of an American football in adults, it is both the largest internal organ and the largest gland in the human body. It is located on the right side of the upper abdomen below the diaphragm anatomy. The liver lies to the right of the stomach and overlies the gallbladder. wikipedia.org/liver

What does my liver do? Your liver acts as a processing plant. It receives everything that you put into your mouth and that ends up in your blood stream, does its best to sort out useful nutrients and harmful substances, and then packages these nutrients and harmful substances to be delivered to your cells and eliminated from your body, respectively. chetday.com/healthyliver The liver is responsible for regulating most chemical levels in the blood. When you swallow a pill, the medication typically travels via the bloodstream from your stomach to your liver. There, one or more types of liver enzyme process the drug, breaking it down into forms that are easier for the rest of the body to use. Some of the drug travels on through your bloodstream; the rest is tagged as poisonous and filtered out.
washingtonpost.com

How does what I consume affect my liver? Let's take medication for an example. How often do you hear on the medication commercials on tv that if you have liver failure to not take the medication and that you will need to have you blood tested so your doctor can monitor you liver function? Okay you might not hear that part but because I am sensitive to it I hear it! Danny had what we thought was some type of fungus growing under his big toenail for a really long time, he went to the doctor (this was about 7 years ago) and was given a prescription for Lamisil. The doctor said to take it but after 2 weeks come back for blood work to check your liver function. Blindly Danny complied. After 2 weeks he got the blood work done and the doctor advised him to stop taking the medication. A few thoughts on this: I am grateful the doctor knew enough to advise the bloodwork, and I grateful that Danny complied and didn't just keep taking the drup, I wish we had known more to have helped Danny avoid taking the liver damaging medicine in the first place. After a year in Chiropractic School Danny was able to diagnos his condition on his own. Psoriasis. The medication given by the doctor was for this, but there was never any communication to that point. The medication doesn't "cure" the condition it masks the symptoms, and can cause liver damage. Yes there are natural way to help psoriasis, a healthy immune system and body is the number one way. Upon changing our lifestyles Danny's condition has improved considerably and his liver is better for it too!

The liver is the gateway to the body and in this chemical age its detoxification systems are easily overloaded. Thousands of chemicals are added to food and over 700 have been identified in drinking water. Plants are sprayed with toxic chemicals, animals are injected with potent hormones and antibiotics and a significant amount of our food is genetically engineered, processed, refined, frozen and cooked. All this can lead to destruction of delicate vitamins and minerals, which are needed for the detoxification pathways in the liver. The liver must try to cope with every toxic chemical in our environment, as well as damaged fats that are present in processed and fried foods.liverdoctor.com

If you are taking medication I would hope that you would reevaluate the necesity of the drug. Can a change in lifestyle eliminate the need? Is it really necassary? Find out the complications is may cause and insist on bloodwork being done by your practitioner. Furthermore, if you must continue the medication take extra care as to what else you consume lessening the burden on your AWESOME liver!

I know the following list is a long one, but double check if for youself and your loved ones. (it hasn't been updated since 2003 so I can only imagine the number of drugs that it is missing of special note the new cholesterol lowering drugs can be highly dangerous for you liver, and from what I have read don't really work!click for more on statins)

This list is just a general guideline. Many drugs affect the liver to one degree or another and we can't list all of them here; new drugs are always being approved for general use. Read the accompanying literature with your prescriptions and always consult with your doctor or pharmacist about any new medication if you have liver disease! Click to go to the list

Fluoride II

And you thought I was going to skip out again! A little late, but always great! The flouride discussion continues:

When several regions in the former East Germany halted the artificial fluoridation of their water, they braced themselves for an expected rise in dental caries (cavities). However, as it turns out, they needn't have worried at all, since dental decay rates actually WENT DOWN.

Although this outcome would seem contrary to commonly held beliefs, researchers hypothesize that the broader availability and application of preventive measures such as fluoride toothpaste, as well as improvements in attitudes towards oral health behavior.

According to researchers, following the cessation of public water fluoridation, " ... a significant fall in caries prevalence was observed. This trend corresponded to the national caries decline and appeared to be a new population-wide phenomenon."

In other words, cavity rates are coming down throughout Germany, irrelevant to whether or not the water is fluoridated.


Researchers studied more than 15,000 children in the formerly fluoridated German towns of Spremberg and Zittau.

Children had been examined repeatedly over the last 20 years.

Caries levels for 12-year-old children significantly decreased during the years 1993 through 1996.

DMFT fell from 2.36 to 1.45 (38.5%) in Spremberg and from 2.47 to 1.96 (20.6%) in Zittau.

According to the study, the results provide " ... further support for the contention that caries prevalence may continue to fall after the reduction of fluoride concentration in the water supply from about 1 ppm to below 0.2 ppm F."

The authors not that similar findings have been reported following the removal of fluoridation programs in the towns of Chemnitz and Plauen.

They also note that the average DMFT of 1.81 for the 12-year-old children in the 4 fluoride-free towns " ... is the lowest observed in East Germany during the past 40 years".

Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology October 2000; 28: 382-9

The use of professional dental applications of fluoride may not be providing any benefit to children, even though they are widely used and generally accepted to reduce the rate of tooth decay.

This study evaluated the association between this practice and the number of cavities. The data from over 15,000 children and for treatment provided by over 1,500 different dentists, were analyzed.

The researchers followed-up with the children for a period averaging over 5 years. No difference in tooth decay rates were seen for "baby" or permanent teeth.

The authors note that there are already numerous recommendations that professionally applied topical fluorides should be used only in children with moderate to high rates of decay.

However, they question whether these guidelines are being followed, considering the fact that approximately two-thirds of the children in the study received topical fluoride at every recall visit, nearly two times per year.

J Public Health Dent 2000; 60: 33-8

Hmmmmm very interesting...

Fluoride in the Water

I have to gather my thoughts on this and will give it my all later today, as for now the laundry and children beckon, read on this research and let me know what you think! FLUORIDE!!!!!

Water Fluoridation & Tooth Decay :

1) The addition of fluoride to water for the purpose of preventing tooth decay began in the 1940s with the belief that fluoride's primary benefit came from ingestion of fluoride during the tooth-forming years. It is now acknowledged by the dental research community, however, that fluoride's primary benefit comes from topical contact with teeth, and not from ingestion as previously assumed. It is also now acknowledged that fluoride is ineffective at preventing tooth decay in the pits & fissures of teeth - where the majority of decay occurs.

2) It is well recognized that tooth decay rates declined quite dramatically in all western countries in the latter half of the 20th century - irrespective of whether the country fluoridated its water or not. Today, tooth decay rates thoughout continental western Europe - where 98% of the population does not drink fluoridated water - are as low as the tooth decay rates in the United States, where a majority of the population drinks fluoridated water.

3) Within countries that fluoridate their water, recent large-scale surveys of dental health - utilizing modern scientific methods not employed in the early surveys from the 1930s-1950s - have found little difference in tooth decay , including "baby bottle tooth decay", between fluoridated and unfluoridated communities.

4) The largest dental survey ever conducted in the United States, by the National Institute of Dental Research in 1986-87, found no difference in Decayed, Missing & Filled Teeth, and a minimal difference in Decayed, Missing & Filled Surfaces among children who had lived their entire lives in a fluoridated or unfluoridated community.

5) Since 2000, four studies have reported that tooth decay does not increase, but continues to decrease, after water fluoridation is stopped.

6) Water fluoridation is often promoted as a means of preventing dental crises within low-income populations. It is becoming evident, however, that water fluoridation has been ineffective at preventing widespread tooth decay in poor urban areas of the United States - most of which have been fluoridated for 20 to 50 years.

Article on the web.

Recycling

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. I have heard my grandma say that more than once. She said it was the motto during the depression, and war times. And to this day my Grandma lives this way. She has a whole drawer dedicated to storing the plastic bags from her produce, elastic bands, sour cream and butter containers, styrafoam trays, used foil, paper clips, push pins and more. She is such an organized lady that there is a place for everything and everything is in it's place.
Since we have become more conscious about our bodies and what we are putting into them, and doing to them it has naturally progressed to an awareness about the world around us. Translation, I am concerned about the environment. To put it out there I don't believe in Global Warming and I am still upset about the Nobel Peace Prize Al Gore won from his fear based documentary on it. That aside, I feel I have a duty to do what I can to help take care of the earth that my Heavenly Father and Jesus created for me. I have come to think that it is disrespectful to not have and awareness and desire to do my part in helping to maintain, preserve and beautify the gift of the earth.

A few months ago my friend said to me "did you know that Harry's (Whole Food Store) has a recycling center behind it?" I said "yes". But I didn't do anything with it, for two big reasons, I am lazy, and I fear new things. What if I got back there and didn't know how to use the recycling center? What if someone saw and laughed because I didn't know what I was doing? Yes it is much easier to just throw it away.

We recycle now. I have always had intentions to recycle but as I said above I was holding myself back. What changed? It was a box of Organic Bunnies (organic version of goldfish) that sparked the start. I was reading the side of the box and is had a reminder to not throw the box made of recycled paper away, but to recycle it. I started thinking about how full my garbage can was day after day, and how many boxes I put in there. We buy cereal bars, granola bars, bunnies, graham crackers, and cereal. Most everything that comes out of the freezer is in a box.

The next step for me was were to put it? We live in an apartment and I use the excuse all the time that there isn't room for anything else. But, a box is so small once it is folded down, and I have a space on the floor in my pantry. So that is my current recycling center. When I go to Harry's now I take my 5 gallon bottles to refill with water, my paper bags to reuse for my groceries, and now I fill up a bag with my cardboard boxes. It brought me a great sense of satisfaction to throw them into the recycling can, and a proud moment when Alison said to me afterwors, "mom we are saving the earth." It wasn't hard to do at all. There are 3 big garbages each are labled for what you can put in there, done deal. The scariest part of it is that I drive down a one way street the wrong way to avoid driving around the building!

One other effort we have made is to reduce the amount of water bottles we buy. Danny and I have each purchased a water bottle, and I know they have already payed for themselves in the amount we save from buying water bottles. I bought my water bottle about 3 months ago so I have already saved on buying over 12 water bottles!

For more information on Recycling
From the Web:
Why Recycling Is Important
As stewards of the environment, we are responsible for preserving and protecting our resources for ourselves and for future generations.

Getting Back to Basics
Recycling is really just common sense, and until the “modern era,” it was a common household activity. Before the 1920s, 70% of U.S. cities ran programs to recycle certain materials. During World War II, industry recycled and reused about 25% of the waste stream. Because of concern for the environment, recycling is again on the upswing. The nation's composting and recycling rate rose from 7.7% of the waste stream in 1960 to 17% in 1990. It's currently up to around 33%.

The Garbage Crisis
The world has changed a lot in the past century. From individually packaged food servings to disposable diapers, more garbage is generated now than ever before. The average American discards 7.5 pounds of garbage every day. This garbage, the solid waste stream, goes mostly to landfills, where it's compacted and buried. As the waste stream continues to grow, so will pressure on our landfills, our resources and our environment.

Last year the amount of energy saved from recycling aluminum and steel cans, plastic PET and glass containers, newsprint and corrugated packaging was equivalent to:

• The amount of electricity consumed by 17.8 million Americans in one year.
• 29% of nuclear electricity generation in the U.S. in one year.
• 7.9% of electricity generation from fossil fuels in the U.S. in one year.
• 11% of the energy produced by coal-fired power plants in the U.S.
• The energy supplied from 2.7% of imported barrels of crude oil into the U.S.
• The amount of gasoline used in almost 11 million passenger automobiles in one year.

I ask everyone to find out what your excuse is for not recycling, and then figure out what you can do to change it. We have a responsiblity to keep the earth beautiful because it is a gift from God. I know you will be blessed for even the smallest effort, we have.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, To ME!!!! I was thinking of taking the day off, but that wouldn't be any fun. I told Danny I needed some ideas and he had a great one sunscreen, but as I got looking into it I realized it would take me some time to put a FIF together for that. You will have that one to look forward to. Instead I decided to go for some shameless vitamin promoting! I mentioned last Friday that we were looking, and we found what we were looking for. I am now a proud independent distributor of Shaklee vitamins. Go ahead and google it, and you will be as suprised as I was at the sheer volume of happy users. I am really liking the vitamins, we just recently started on those, and the cleaning products are just down right amazing! And to know that they are so natural and kid friendly. I can't believe the number of people that have shared with me the improvement with children's asthma and allergies after using the Get Clean products. To see a cost comparison on how they add up next to traditional cleaning products Click Here. Now since it is my birthday my wish is that you will all just visit my website and see what they have to offer. Our website address is www.shaklee.net/drhansen20. AND when you see something you know someone else would love pass the link along!
Lastly, I just read this article this morning and it was a real eye opener as to the money and conflict of interest that is involved in the vaccine making industry, I highly suggest you read it, even if you believe vaccines work this will make you think twice the next time a new vaccine is introduced.
Here is the link casiquest.org/upi.htm
Just a small thank you to everyone who loves FIF, or loves to hate FIF, I look forward to doing this every week.
Marci

Whole Food Vitamins

Why should I take a vitamin? Does it matter what kind of vitamin I take? Aren't they all the same? In the past two weeks I have started a journey to find the type of supplememt we want to carry in our chiropractic office. The reason the journey has started so early (a year early to be exact) is because I will not ever suggest or advise on anything that I haven't turned inside out and/or tried myself. We are pretty close to finding a winner and when we do I will let you all know. As for now to answer myself, a vitamin is a supplement of nutrition. We would be hard pressed to get all the vitamins and minerals we need each and every day just from the food we eat. One of the reasons behind this is because our fruits and vegetables don't contain as much as they used to (we can get into the science of this another day). It does matter what type of vitamin or supplement you take. They aren't all the same.

To narrow it down there are two catergories whole food and synthetic. A synthetic vitamin is made from isolated portions of the whole food. Your body is only able to use a portion of what is actually in the synthetic vitamin, and even that portion isn't absored to well. This should help you understand why your urine is a fluorscent yellow after taking a synthetic vitamin, that is where the majority of the nutrients end up, in the toilet. A whole food vitamin contains everything from the food. Thereby making it all available to your body. I have taken both, and am happy to report no fluorscent pee after the whole food vitamin.

Now there is an important thing to realize, if you are getting the whole food vitamin, you will be paying more. There is no gentle way to put it, quality products cost more. The cheaper the vitamin, the cheaper the processing that went into it. I am not saying the you need to find the most expensive whole food vitamin to have a quality product, I am saying that the bottle of Equate (Wal-Mart) brand where you get 240 capsules for $6.00, will provide you with flourscent yellow pee. Really you are beter off flushing your $6.00 down the toilet as that is where most of the "vitamins" end up! Here is an article that helps me explain what I am trying to say. ;)
Whole Food Vitamins ROCK!

If quality and natural matters to you, then make sure the source of your vitamins is whole foods. Is your supplement a synthetic (made up in lab) vitamin? If it is a whole food vitamin then the company will usually be proud to advertise as such and list the source of the vitamin. Here are the critical points you should know about whole food vitamins.

Don't ever select a vitamin based solely on price point. There are significant reasons why one vitamin is cheaper than the other. When you decide on what is an acceptable quality, then comparison shop for that similar quality vitamin so you are comparing oranges with oranges and apples with apples. Watch out for companies with well recognized names who have purchasing power. Read the label even more.

Your body prefers to absorb vitamins and other nutrients from natural or whole foods. In other words, these are foods in their natural, unprocessed or unpolished states. Therefore, most health and wellness experts agree that whole food sources of vitamins and minerals and other nutrients are superior. Synthetic may mimic but will not be superior as good as natural. Your body will absorb and utilize the whole food vitamins more than synthetic.

The fewer additives the better and the fewer opportunities there are for allergic reactions. Remember, avoid artificial flavoring and colors. The supplement market is very competitive; the better the quality the better and more prominent the labeling stating such. Vague labels with minimal information are strong indicators of lower quality.

Find out if your vitamin is made by a company with rigorous quality control standards that are validated by a third party certification provider such as the NSF or ISO. Your vitamin needs to be NSF or ISO certified. Why would you take any dietary or nutrition supplement made by a company without one of these certifications? NSF certification for example assures the consumer that the product has been tested and will continue to be tested through periodic audits. In other words, the certification of a product is continuous, not a one time process. The product should have the high quality ingredients and manufacturing process that a company claims.

Vitamins are supplements. Just as all dietary supplements, they are not cure alls for disease states. They supply what the body is missing to heal itself for perform natural physiologic functions. They are not medicines. However, if not used in an appropriate manner they can harm you. For example, if you are on a blood thinner such as coumadin for whatever reason, you would not want to take vitamin K supplementation. It will oppose the coumadin to try and thicken the blood.

The question is frequently asked, who should take vitamins? The answer is most people. Most do not get enough vitamins because of a deficiency of adequate fruits and vegetables and whole foods in the diet. Look at the plate of most people eating around you. Are those plates colorful with fruits and vegetables or are do they lack color because of all the starch and meat?

Use a vitamin that is from a whole food source and that is NSF or ISO certified. Choose a supplement based on quality not price.

Emotional Health

I spend most of my day at home with my kids. Doing housework, playing, feeding, cooking, taxing kids around, going to the park etc. This means I am in my head with my thoughts a lot. Sometimes I like to turn my brain off and the only way I have found to do this is to sing. When I am not singing, or referring my kids, I am thinking. You can't turn it off, it is going to happen, the only control you have is what you think!

After marrying Danny he pointed out to me often that I control my moods. In hindsight I am grateful for his assistance in realizing this, but at the time it would make me so mad. If I was grumpy after waking up, he would tell me that I chose to be grumpy. I would spend the next 30 minutes in my mind telling myself why it is okay for me to grumpy. The more I told myself it was okay, the grumpier I became. Now when I wake up on the wrong side of the bed I stop myself and acknowledge that I have a choice to make, grumpy, or happy but mine alone to choose. I will be honest, I don't always choose happy, but I don't get nearly as grumpy as I used to, because I accept that I am choosing to be grumpy.

Accepting responsibility for our thoughts and actions is sometimes hard to do, but the sooner we are willing to admit that ultimately everything that happens to us is a direct result of our thinking the easier it is to roll with the punches. President Gordon B. Hinckley gave a talk once and told us we could choose to act or react. When we are acting we are taking responsibility for ourselves. When we react our emotions take over, and we can lose control. I still get caught up in myself and like to play the blame game, because sometimes it is hard to accept responsibility for my actions. But I am learning the more I focus on making something good, the easier it is to accept responsibility.

I am a very forgiving person I don't like to hold a grudge it takes far to much energy. I like to clear the air, I try not to avoid confrontation (hard as it may be), and I am learning to apologize. This last one has been hard, but the most rewarding as I have changed my thoughts. I recognize that I get back what I give, if I am giving off positive energy that is what I will receive, and negative thoughts garner negative feedback. I've yet to be with a group of women who don't like to throw fuel on the each others fire. Once the negative comes out very few of us want to think about the positive, husband bashing comes to mind. Several years ago I recognized that by complaining about Danny the more focused I became on his faults. I made a commitment to not complain about him to anyone other than him. I can say this has only strengthen my marriage. Danny has his faults, we all do, I don't want Danny airing my dirty laundry to his friends, and I love and respect him and don't do it either.

I love to find the positive in things, and I have always had a knack for this. My mom calls me PollyAnna (if you've seen the movie you know what I am talking about, if not you missed out as a child) I prefer to live life playing the glad game. In so many of lifes hard times the only thing we can change is our attitude.

I have learned that our thoughts not only control our actions, and our words but our health as well. Danny is learning a new chiropractic technique, that deals with the emotions. At first glance it may seem a little voodoo, but I have been amazed as he has learned more and tested it out on me how powerful our thoughts and subconscious mind really is. Our thoughts really do have power over our physical well being. The following is from the chiropractor Danny is learning the technique from. Here is the link to his site that is full of wonderful information Dr. Dinoff.com.

With around 60-70,000 THOUGHTS everyday, it would be pretty hard to regulate them individually. Based on how we’re thinking, we experience or perceive FEELINGS. If you bask in that sequence of thought and feeling, expect it to solidify into EMOTIONS which are chemical and have a definitive effect on your body.

So, if you don’t like the way you are feeling, go back and change the way you are thinking. Your feelings are an “early warning” system before major chemical changes occur! Pre-empt health problems by focusing your thoughts on gratitude and thankfulness; start counting your blessings. Acknowledge that stuff happens in your life so you can learn from it. CHOOSE to be a victor, not a victim. Don’t wallow in “what happened to me” as if you’re some kind of victim in life. You get to CHOOSE! BE optimistic; it will change the way you feel and that will avert your body’s harmful EMOTIONAL (chemical) response which will protect your health (4).

Thoughts, feelings, and emotions are different stages of that “dynamic flow of information” between all of the cells in our bodies. Knowing this encourages us to properly manage our thoughts, and their direct effects caused by feelings and emotions in our lives.

Note: TRAUMA, TOXICITY, and THOUGHT are the three major stresses in our lives. Each or any combination of these three stresses can affect the way we feel and our emotions. In the preceding discussion, we looked at the power of our thoughts on our feelings and emotions because it is an area of our lives we can control. We can CHOOSE our thoughts, and in so doing, we directly affect our feelings and emotions and the health we manifest.

About My Journey

As many of you know, and if you don't now you do. Since Danny has started Chiropractic school, we have changed the way we do a lot of things. Most days this has about zero impact on my life. At first it took me a little longer to do my grocery shopping at Wal-mart because it required me to read ALL the labels on the things we buy. It was really quite amazing to me the things I had been putting into my body! Needless to say I try to have a partially hydrogenated oil free house and well as high fructose corn syrup, oh yeah and I can't forget the dreaded aspartame (nutra-sweet, splenda etc). If you want more info on why leave me a comment I am always more than happy to get on my soap box about it, we aren't perfect, my current weakness is Ritz crackers but I have yet to find a suitable replacement for them, and I just love the way they melt in your mouth. My kids have adjusted to organic, or at least high fructose corn syrup free applesauce. (I am a stickler on the aspartame thing it is an absolutely not kind of a thing.) Anyway we have done it in baby steps, and although it took me about 9 months to get over the shakes every time I went down the diet coke aisles I gave up the sauce 15 months ago. It has been fairly easy, sometimes I am the first one to make the change and sometimes Danny is but eventually we all come around to being on the same page. I have spent and do spend hour upon hour researching these things, so please be aware the changes weren't made lightly, all angles and information have been taken into account. The first hard hoop was when we got kicked out of the pediatricians office because we refused vaccinations. The only good reason the nurse could give us to do the vaccines was that there was some polio outbreaks in the US. She couldn't tell us where, didn't know when, and most importantly she didn't have the info that the last case of wild polio was back in 1979. All current cases of polio have been induced by the vaccine itself. Knowing this I knew that she hadn't done all the research that I had, and it would be a pointless discussion. I simply asked to get all of my paperwork back from the office, all personal info that I had given them. She said that we would have to pay for a canceled appointment, I told her I would not because I didn't cancel the appt. the pediatrician did. She told me it was my job to ask when I called if they would treat my children without vaccines. I told her it was their job to ask if I wanted vaccines when I called to make the appointment. Needless to say, I left in tears and Danny called and told them they would be hearing from our attorney if they tried to charge us, we haven't heard from them since. We have been lucky enough to find a pediatrician who respects our decisions (his wife is a chiropractor) and doesn't push anything on us, and he is the greatest ever! He acts as though you are the only patient that he has to see and is willing to sit down and talk with you. We have only seen him 3 times, and his nurse practitioner 2 times. None of these visit were because our kids were sick. Two were for school check ups, one was Nathans two week check, and Annika has been in twice, once for a well child check up and once to check on the ear wax in her ear. (apparently selective deafness has nothing to do with ear wax!) But I am happy to say that in the last two years my kids haven't had any antibiotics, any Tylenol or Motrin and they are doing just fine. This isn't to say that we have all had perfect health, but the things we do come down with we prevent and treat with Chiropractic, and homeopathy (again let me know if you want more info). At this point someone usually likes to tell me that kids can't go to school without vaccines, but I am living proof they can because that is where Alison and Lisa are right now! Nathan is completely vaccine free and has only been to the pediatrician once, when he was two weeks old. Now to the reason for the post today, really I am making a very short story very long, I called the dentist today to make and appointment for Alison and Lisa. We have researched and decided that fluoride is on the list of things we don't want anything to do with, and so I asked when I made the appointment if this would be a problem for the dentist (I had learned my lesson). The office person said "no, but why wouldn't you want it?" To save myself from having to climb on my soapbox I said that we had researched and as a family have decided that it just isn't something we do. She said, very snottily "well, it is a really great way to prevent cavities." I replied, "we have done our research and have decided against it." I am pretty sure she was going to just hang up but I confirmed the appointment very kindly and ended the call. (again for more info, contact me) Reading this I am not sure you can really appreciate the way the call transpired but it was a big ringing bell that reminded me that I am different. Now I can handle the office staff and dentist for that matter, but as a mother I don't care what you do or how you do it, you don't want your kids to be labeled, ostracized, or treated differently because of decision that you are making in their best interest. The other option would be to take them to the holistic dentist down the street, and if $200.00 falls from the sky we will be going to see the fluoride free dentist. If not I have to grin and defend it! In this moment I always remember what my sister has said to me, that I think of often, "Different isn't wrong, it's just different." So please remember this when I get on my soapbox, and you start to think I am a nut, I am not wrong, just different.

Why I Breastfeed

Watch Your Language
By Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC

The lactation consultant says, "You have the best chance to provide
your baby with the best possible start in life, through the special
bond of breastfeeding. The wonderful advantages to you and your baby
will last a lifetime." And then the mother bottlefeeds. Why?

In part because that sales pitch could just as easily have come from
a commercial baby milk pamphlet. When our phrasing and that of the
baby milk industry are interchangeable, one of us is going about it
wrong...and it probably isn't the multinationals. Here is some of the
language that I think subverts our good intentions every time we use
it.

Best possible, ideal, optimal, perfect. Are you the best possible
parent? Is your home life ideal? Do you provide optimal meals? Of
course not. Those are admirable goals, not minimum standards. Let's
rephrase. Is your parenting inadequate? Is your home life subnormal?
Do you provide deficient meals? Now it hurts. You may not expect to
be far above normal, but you certainly don't want to be below normal.

When we (and the artificial milk manufacturers) say that
breastfeeding is the best possible way to feed babies because it
provides their ideal food, perfectly balanced for optimal infant
nutrition, the logical response is, "So what?" Our own experience
tells us that optimal is not necessary. Normal is fine, and implied
in this language is the absolute normalcy--and thus safety and
adequacy--of artificial feeding. The truth is, breastfeeding is
nothing more than normal. Artificial feeding, which is neither the
same nor superior, is therefore deficient, incomplete, and inferior.
Those are difficult words, but they have an appropriate place in our
vocabulary.

Advantages. When we talk about the advantages of breastfeeding--
the "lower rates" of cancer, the "reduced risk" of allergies,
the "enhanced" bonding, the "stronger" immune system--we reinforce
bottlefeeding yet again as the accepted, acceptable norm.

Health comparisons use a biological, not cultural, norm, whether the
deviation is harmful or helpful. Smokers have higher rates of
illness; increasing prenatal folic acid may reduce fetal defects.
Because breastfeeding is the biological norm, breastfed babies are
not "healthier;" artificially-fed babies are ill more often and more
seriously. Breastfed babies do not "smell better;" artificial feeding
results in an abnormal and unpleasant odor that reflects problems in
an infant's gut. We cannot expect to create a breastfeeding culture
if we do not insist on a breastfeeding model of health in both our
language and our literature.

We must not let inverted phrasing by the media and by our peers go
unchallenged. When we fail to describe the hazards of artificial
feeding, we deprive mothers of crucial decision-making information.
The mother having difficulty with breastfeeding may not seek help
just to achieve a "special bonus;" but she may clamor for help if she
knows how much she and her baby stand to lose. She is less likely to
use artificial milk just "to get him used to a bottle" if she knows
that the contents of that bottle cause harm.

Nowhere is the comfortable illusion of bottlefed normalcy more
carefully preserved than in discussions of cognitive development.
When I ask groups of health professionals if they are familiar with
the study on parental smoking and IQ (1), someone always tells me
that the children of smoking mothers had "lower IQs." When I ask
about the study of premature infants fed either human milk or
artificial milk (2), someone always knows that the breastmilk-fed
babies were "smarter." I have never seen either study presented any
other way by the media--or even by the authors themselves. Even
health professionals are shocked when I rephrase the results using
breastfeeding as the norm: the artificially-fed children, like
children of smokers, had lower IQs.

Inverting reality becomes even more misleading when we use
percentages, because the numbers change depending on what we choose
as our standard. If B is 3/4 of A, then a is 4/3 of B. Choose A as
the standard, and B is 25% less. Choose B as the standard, and A is
33 1/3% more. Thus, if an item costing 100 units is put on sale
for "25% less,"the price becomes 75. When the sale is over, and the
item is marked back up, it must be marked up 33 1/3% to get the price
up to 100. Those same figures appear in a recent study (3), which
found a "25% decrease" in breast cancer rates among women who were
breastfed as infants. Restated using breastfed health as the norm,
there was a 33-1/3% increase in breast cancer rates among women who
were artificially fed. Imagine the different impact those two
statements would have on the public.

Special. "Breastfeeding is a special relationship." "Set up a special
nursing corner." In or family, special meals take extra time. Special
occasions mean extra work. Special is nice, but it is complicated, it
is not an ongoing part of life, and it is not something we want to do
very often. For most women, nursing must fit easily into a busy life--
and, of course, it does. "Special" is weaning advice, not
breastfeeding advice.

Breastfeeding is best; artificial milk is second best. Not according
to the World Health Organization. Its hierarchy is: 1) breastfeeding;
2) the mother's own milk expressed and given to her child some other
way; 3) the milk of another human mother; and 4) artificial milk
feeds (4). We need to keep this clear in our own minds and make it
clear to others. "The next best thing to mother herself" comes from a
breast, not from a can. The free sample perched so enticingly on the
shelf at the doctor's office is only the fourth best solution to
breastfeeding problems.

There is a need for standard formula in some situations. Only because
we do not have human milk banks. The person who needs additional
blood does not turn to a fourth-rate substitute; there are blood
banks that provide human blood for human beings. He does not need to
have a special illness to qualify. All he needs is a personal
shortage of blood. Yet only those infants who cannot tolerate fourth
best are privileged enough to receive third best. I wonder what will
happen when a relatively inexpensive commercial blood is designed
that carries a substantially higher health risk than donor blood. Who
will be considered unimportant enough to receive it? When we find
ourselves using artificial milk with a client, let's remind her and
her health care providers that banked human milk ought to be
available. Milk banks are more likely to become part of our culture
if they first become part of our language.

We do not want to make bottlefeeding mothers feel guilty. Guilt is a
concept that many women embrace automatically, even when they know
that circumstances are truly beyond their control. (My mother has
been known to apologize for the weather.)

Women's (nearly) automatic assumption of guilt is evident in their
responses to this scenario: Suppose you have taken a class in
aerodynamics. You have also seen pilots fly planes. Now, imagine that
you are the passenger in a two-seat plane. The pilot has a heart
attack, and it is up to you to fly the plane. You crash. Do you feel
guilty?

The males I asked responded, "No. Knowing about aerodynamics doesn't
mean you can fly an airplane." "No, because I would have done my
best." "No. I might feel really bad about the plane and pilot, but I
wouldn't feel guilty." "No. Planes are complicated to fly, even if
you've seen someone do it." What did the females say? "I wouldn't
feel guilty about the plane, but I might about the pilot because
there was a slight chance that I could have managed to land that
plane." "Yes, because I'm very hard on myself about my mistakes.
Feeling bad and feeling guilty are all mixed up for me." "Yes, I
mean, of course. I know I shouldn't, but I probably would." "Did I
kill someone else? If I didn't kill anyone else, then I don't feel
guilty." Note the phrases "my mistakes," "I know I shouldn't,"
and "Did I kill anyone?" for an event over which these women would
have had no control!

The mother who opts not to breastfeed, or who does not do so as long
as she planned, is doing the best she can with the resources at hand.
She may have had the standard "breast is best" spiel (the course in
aerodynamics) and she may have seen a few mothers nursing at the mall
(like watching the pilot on the plane's overhead screen). That is
clearly not enough information or training. But she may still feel
guilty. She's female.

Most of us have seen well-informed mothers struggle unsuccessfully to
establish breastfeeding, and turn to bottlefeeding with a sense of
acceptance because they know they did their best. And we have seen
less well-informed mothers later rage against a system that did not
give them the resources they later discovered they needed. Help a
mother who says she feels guilty to analyze her feelings, and you may
uncover a very different emotion. Someone long ago handed these
mothers the word "guilt." It is the wrong word.

Try this on: You have been crippled in a serious accident. Your
physicians and physical therapists explain that learning to walk
again would involve months of extremely painful and difficult work
with no guarantee of success. They help you adjust to life in a
wheelchair, and support you through the difficulties that result.
Twenty years later, when your legs have withered beyond all hope, you
meet someone whose accident matched your own. "It was difficult," she
says. "It was three months of sheer hell. But I've been walking every
since." Would you feel guilty?

Women to whom I posed this scenario told me they would feel angry,
betrayed, cheated. They would wish they could do it over with better
information. They would feel regret for opportunities lost. Some of
the women said they would feel guilty for not having sought out more
opinions, for not having persevered in the absence of information and
support. But gender-engendered guilt aside, we do not feel guilty
about having been deprived of a pleasure. The mother who does not
breastfeed impairs her own health, increases the difficulty and
expense of infant and child rearing, and dismisses one of life's most
delightful relationships. She has lost something basic to her own
well-being. What image of the satisfactions of breastfeeding do we
convey when we use the word "guilt"?

Let's rephrase, using the words women themselves gave me: "We don't
want to make bottlefeeding mothers feel angry. We don't want to make
them feel betrayed. We don't want to make them feel cheated." Peel
back the layered implications of "we don't want to make them feel
guilty," and you will find a system trying to cover its own tracks.
It is not trying to protect her. It is trying to protect itself.
Let's level with mothers, support them when breastfeeding doesn't
work, and help them move beyond this inaccurate and ineffective word.

Pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages. Breastfeeding is a
straight-forward health issue, not one of two equivalent
choices. "One disadvantage of not smoking is that you are more likely
to find secondhand smoke annoying. One advantage of smoking is that
it can contribute to weight loss." The real issue is differential
morbidity and mortality. The rest--whether we are talking about
tobacco or commercial baby milks--is just smoke.

One maternity center uses a "balanced" approach on an "infant feeding
preference card" (5) that lists odorless stools and a return of the
uterus to its normal size on the five lines of breastfeeding
advantages. (Does this mean the bottlefeeding mother's uterus never
returns to normal?) Leaking breasts and an inability to see how much
the baby is getting are included on the four lines of disadvantages.
A formula-feeding advantage is that some mothers find it "less
inhibiting and embarrassing." The maternity facility reported good
acceptance by the pediatric medical staff and no marked change in the
rates of breastfeeding or bottlefeeding. That is not surprising. The
information is not substantially different from the "balanced" lists
that the artificial milk salesmen have peddled for years. It is
probably an even better sales pitch because it now carries very clear
hospital endorsement. "Fully informed," the mother now feels
confident making a life-long health decision based on relative diaper
smells and the amount of skin that shows during feedings.

Why do the commercial baby milk companies offer pro and con lists
that acknowledge some of their product's shortcomings? Because
any "balanced" approach that is presented in a heavily biased culture
automatically supports the bias. If A and B are nearly equivalent,
and if more than 90% of mothers ultimately choose B, as mothers in
the United States do (according to an unpublished 1992 Mothers'
Survey by Ross Laboratories that indicated fewer than 10% of U.S.
mothers nursing at a year), it makes sense to follow the majority. If
there were an important difference, surely the health profession
would make a point of staying out of the decision-making process. It
is the parents' choice to make. True. But deliberately stepping out
of the process implies that the "balanced" list was accurate. In a
recent issue of Parenting magazine, a pediatrician comments, "When I
first visit a new mother in the hospital, I ask, 'Are you
breastfeeding or bottlefeeding?' If she says she is going to
bottlefeed, I nod and move on to my next questions. Supporting new
parents means supporting them in whatever choices they make; you
don't march in postpartum and tell someone she's making a terrible
mistake, depriving herself and her child." (6)

Yet if a woman announced to her doctor, midway through a routine
physical examination, that she took up smoking a few days earlier,
the physician would make sure she understood the hazards, reasoning
that now was the easiest time for her to change her mind. It is
hypocritical and irresponsible to take a clear position on smoking
and "let parents decide" about breastfeeding without first making
sure of their information base. Life choices are always the
individual's to make. That does not mean his or her information
sources should be mute, nor that the parents who opt for
bottlefeeding should be denied information that might prompt a
different decision with a subsequent child.

Breastfeeding. Most other mammals never even see their own milk, and
I doubt that any other mammalian mother deliberately "feeds" her
young by basing her nursing intervals on what she infers the baby's
hunger level to be. Nursing quiets her young and no doubt feels good.
We are the only mammal that consciously uses nursing to transfer
calories...and we're the only mammal that has chronic trouble making
that transfer.

Women may say they "breastfed" for three months, but they usually say
they "nursed" for three years. Easy, long-term breastfeeding involves
forgetting about the "breast" and the "feeding" (and the duration,
and the interval, and the transmission of the right nutrients in the
right amounts, and the difference between nutritive and non-nutritive
suckling needs, all of which form the focus of artificial milk
pamphlets) and focusing instead on the relationship. Let's all tell
mothers that we hope they won't "breastfeed"--that the real joys and
satisfactions of the experience begin when they stop "breastfeeding"
and start mothering at the breast.

All of us within the profession want breastfeeding to be our
biological reference point. We want it to be the cultural norm; we
want human milk to be made available to all human babies, regardless
of other circumstances. A vital first step toward achieving those
goals is within immediate reach of every one of us. All we have to do
is...watch our language.

If you found this article of interest, you may desire to ensure you
regularly receive your own copy of the Journal of Human Lactation
(JHL). Taking out membership in the International Lactation
Consultant Association(ILCA)includes the benefit of four issues of
the JHL a year. See www.ilca.org for how to join.
Article on the Web

Is Fear of Fever Hurting our Children?

This is a good one guys, Is fear of Fever hurting our children? The reason why it is so great to post this today is that in the past week 3 of my 4 have had fevers. How high you ask? I don't know I can't find my thermometor, and regardless of the temp the treatment at my house is the same. I have to admit that at the height of Nathans fever I had to sit on my hands to keep from reaching for the tylenol (okay not really we don't have any childrens tylenol or ibuprofen in the house...) it was hard to watch but I knew that his body was doing what it needed to do. With homeopathy and most importantly a lot of TLC he is doing much better today. This article that I am going to post a portion of is very long, but so very good! I will post the link to the entire article at the end of the excerpt that I post here! Fevers are a GOOD thing! Happy Friday.
Oh yeah, the book referenced here "how to raise your child inspite of your pediatrician" is a good reassuring book, written by a pediatrician!

"...The pervasive belief that fever is dangerous and must be suppressed disregards the scientific evidence demonstrating its beneficial role in inflammatory diseases. The immune system depends on the essential role of fever to accomplish myriad tasks when gearing up to fight infections. New Zealand researcher Hilary Butler has assembled an impressive list of citations from medical literature to prove this point. We are grateful for her work, and include these excerpts as an addendum to this article.
“Doctors do a great disservice to you and your child when they prescribe drugs to reduce fever” says Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, pediatrician and author of How To Raise A Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor. “Fever phobia is a disease of pediatricians, not parents, and to the extent that parents are victimized by it, doctors are at fault.” Parents are left to fear that their child’s temperature will keep rising unless measures are taken to control it . “They don’t tell you that reducing his temperature will do nothing to make the patient well or that our bodies have a built-in mechanism, not fully explained, that will prevent an infection-induced temperature from reaching 106 degrees F (41 degrees C) (3)
Mendelsohn emphasizes that, “Only in the case of heatstroke, poisoning, or other externally caused fevers is this bodily mechanism overwhelmed and inoperative.” This would also include drug reactions and overdose.
Fever: Your Body’s Defense Against Disease is the title of chapter 7 in Dr. Mendeloshn’s book, and undoubtedly one of the best guidelines ever written for parents seeking a balanced and accurate perspective of the beneficial and defensive role of fevers in childhood. He condemns the useless and dangerous practice of fever suppression through drugs. “If your child contracts an infection, the fever that accompanies it is a blessing, not a curse. The spontaneous release of pyrogens cause the body temperature to rise, a natural defense mechanism needed to fight disease. The presence of fever tells you that the repair mechanisms of the body have gone into high gear. It is something to rejoice over, not to fear.”(3)
He counters the myth that high fever causes seizures. “Many parents are fearful of fevers because they have witnessed a convulsive seizure and believe that their child may experience one if his temperature is allowed to rise too high. High fevers do not cause convulsions. They result when the temperature rises at an extremely rapid rate and are relatively uncommon. It is estimated that only 4 percent of children with high fever experience fever related convulsions. There is no evidence that those who do have them suffer any serious aftereffects as a result.” (3)
“Fevers produced by viral or bacterial infections will not cause brain damage or permanent physical harm. Fevers are a common symptom in children and are not an indication of serious illness unless associated with major changes in appearance and behavior or other additional symptoms such as respiratory difficulty, extreme listlessness or loss of consciousness. The height of a fever is not a measure of the severity of an illness.” (3)
Numerous studies have shown that fever enhances the immune response by increasing mobility and activity of white cells called leucocytes which disable bacteria and viruses and remove damaged tissue from the body. A complex sequence of immune activities is activated by fever. Antiviral and antibacterial properties of interferon are also increased with fever. With a rise in temperature, iron is removed from the blood and stored in the liver, further disabling the rate at which bacteria can multiply. Studies of artificially induced fevers in laboratory animals infected with disease have shown that elevated temperatures enhance survival, while lowered temperatures increase the death rate. (4)
There is an exception however. When fever arises in a newborn baby in the first few weeks of life, there is a heightened level of caution. “Newborn babies may suffer from infections related to obstetrical interventions during delivery, prenatal or hereditary conditions, aspiration pneumonia from amniotic fluid forced into the lungs because of overmedication of the mother during delivery…and exposure to the legion of germs that abound in the hospital itself”, writes Dr. Mendelsohn who advises parents to seek medical help if a baby runs a fever in the first two months of life. Breastfeeding plays a critical role in preventing infections in infants. Breastfed babies are superbly protected from a vast range of pathogens and have a lesser risk of developing fevers in the newborn phase of life.
It is known that the blood-brain barrier is not intact until at least 6 weeks of life. This is why fever in very young infants, raises a big caution flag because of the ease with which pathogens, viruses/bacteria can gain access to the baby's brain/nervous system creating a higher risk for meningitis..."
Click HERE for entire article

Curing a Symptom or Healing a Life?

This is an excerpt from and article from Pathways magazine. To read an additional excerpt you can visit their website at pathwaystofamilywellness.org If you like what you read you can get a free copy of the entire magazine. I really enjoy this mag because unlike the other parenting magazines, it's not loaded with a bunch of useless advertising, and the articles are really uplifting, enlightening, and empowering. So with out further ado here it is:
"Through illness the body gives us a message- it tells us that something is out of balance. This is not a punishment for bad behaviour; rather it is, nature's way of creating equilibrium. By listening to the message we have a chance to contribute to our own healing and to participate with our body in bringing us back to a state of wholeness and balance. So, rather than blaming ourselves by saying "Why did I choose to have cancer?" we can ask "How am I choosing to use this cancer?" We can use whatever difficulties we are confronted with in order to learn and grow, to release old patterns of negativity, and to deepen compassion, forgiveness and insight. Our difficulties can then become stepping stones along the way rather than stumbling blocks. Instead of becoming overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness and guilt that we are responsible for everything that happens to us, illness can be seen as a tremendous challenge and opportunity for awakening. In this way illness can be a great gift- a chance for us to find ourselves." Debbie Shapiro

Vinegar

Free Info Friday!
I remembered this song this morning as I was thinking about what enlightened piece of info to share with you this Friday. I learned it from Mrs. Cook in the third grade what a lovely little song. Onto the info! As you all can tell (or know) we have changed our lifestyle a bit and in an effort to become a little more "green" I started researching alternatives for cleaning. I found vinegar! Okay I didn't find it people all over have been using vinegar for the longest time to clean with, I just recently made the discovery. I must tell you I was a bit of a skeptic, but I gave it a try. People let me tell you what, even if I wasn't trying to be a little more "green" the results of cleaning my shower with vinegar has been AMAZING! I simply made a mixture of 50/50 white vinegar and water, put it in a spray bottle, sprayed the shower down, let soak for a minute wiped it down. It was so sparkly and white it made me want to clean the shower again (okay at least made me want to do it sooner than a month later). To have a little fun with it and make some bubbles the next time I made a paste of baking soda and water, slathered that onto the shower wall, then sprayed with the solution (vinegar and baking soda make such a nice fizzing sound together.) Even more sparkly this time. Having read that baking soda can be used to clean silver I thought I would give it a try. I have some tarnished silver that was almost black, I dumped a pile of baking soda into the sink was going to get it a little wet to make a paste but first just rubbed it into the silver, and wala tarnish gone, it rubbed right off. I feel a little "crunchy" handing out this au naturale cleaning advice, but I tell you what it is awesome! I found this awesome website that list all the things that you can do with white vinegar and baking soda, you've got to check it out, then try it and let me know what you think! Vinegar is for so much more than fish and chips!
I didn't know vinegar could do that! www.vinegartips.com

Top 17 Organic Foods

We are trying our hardest to eat as much organic food as we can, and I thought I would pass along some of the reasons why. Here is a list of the 17 foods that are best when eaten organic. To find out even more about organic foods and why they are better for you, as well as a wealth of other great info visit the site I borrowed this from at Organicfoods.com
17 Most Important Foods to Eat Organic


1. Baby Food. The very young are extraordinarily susceptible to pesticides. Here are some organic baby food brands, Earth's Best, Tender Harvest, and Healthy Times, which are available for your baby's safety and health. Or better yet, make your own baby food by cooking and pureeing organic produce. See "Make Your Own Baby Food".
2. Strawberries. Enjoy them while they are in season from local organic farms or buy frozen organic strawberries from your local whole market.
3. Rice. Domestic rice is splattered with mega-doses of pesticides, and now, the chemicals companies are producing "pharm" rice used to produce and store pharmaceuticals. Buy organic rice where you can find it and store it in an airtight container. It stores very well.
4. Green and Red Bell Peppers. Super sources of Vitamin C, but wrought with pesticides. Buy organic, or, better yet, grow your own. Seeds of Change has a plethora of organic seeds, and pepper plants prove to be a hardy bunch!
5. Got Milk? We hope not, at least, not from conventionally raised cows. Today's commercial brands are loaded with antibiotics and growth hormones. Make sure your milk and other dairy is from organically-fed cows without the extra rBST, rBGH and antibiotics.
If you are feeding your child goat milk, and/or goat products, be aware that our science community has now genetically mutated a goat to spin silk in her milk. See the New Scientist article.
6. Corn. Corn is typically not a scale tipper when it comes to pesticide residues. But, take into account that 75- 90% of all domestic corn has been genetically-modified, that the average American eats 11 pounds of it, that most cooking oils include corn oil, and that most everything is sweetened with corn syrup, and suddenly, buying organic corn and corn products, makes more than a little sense. Eat local organic corn in season and freeze some for later, or, leave some kernels to dry, and plant them in the spring.
7. Bananas. This tropical favorite has a short window of ripeness and a very long distance to market (quick, how many local banana farms does your town have?). All of which adds up to a lot of heavy chemical dousing along the way.
8. Green Beans. Over 60 different pesticides are used on green beans. Even beans used in baby food have been found to be contaminated.
9. Peaches. Nothing beats a peach. Until you realize that they often have the highest rates of illegally-applied pesticides. Isn't that just peachy . . .
10. Apples. A decade after the dangers of Alar were exposed, apples are still soaked in pesticides. Put only organic apples in your pie.
11. Cherries. Cherries, so expensive, so rich, so fabulous, . . . so heavily doused in poison. Make sure that the cherries in your Cherries Jubilee or Bing Cherry Ice Creams are as clean and wonderful as they were meant to be.
12. Celery. Why would anyone think of spraying the heck out of that innocuous little stem vegetable?! But they do. Stay organic, the taste of organic celery will amaze you and make you a celery-nibbler once again.
13. Apricots and Grapes. Apricots, Peaches and Grapes, what would summer be without them? Less toxic! Keep conventionally grown fruits and veggies, and their pesticide residuals, out of your system or minimize them with a vegetable rinse, such as the one by Healthy Harvest.
14. Soybeans.
If you are not yet a label-reader, it is time to start.
Everything you buy, from bread to cookies to crackers to margerine to dry mixes, has some sort of soy product in it. Most soybean in the USA is genetically-modified.
So, why the fuss over modified soy?
Monsanto, in an effort to increase the use (and profit potential) of Round-Up Ready, spliced the herbicide into soybean plant DNA. Two problems with this action.

1) No matter what you or I do, we can never wash RoundUp Ready herbicide off the soybean--ever. It is "permanently imbedded".
2) It appears that soy increases production of estrogen. High estrogen levels facilitate the potential for contracting various cancers and for hastening puberty in young children.

Although the jury is still out on whether soy consumption, in general, is beneficial, or whether only fermented soy should be consumed, never, we mean NEVER, consume foods laced with poisons.
15. Potatoes.
Mashed potatoes are delicious and worth the calories, unless they're laden with pesticides or have been genetically-modified.
When genetically modified, potatoes impair the immune system and shrink the brain, liver and heart.
So, mash a clean, real, organic potato and forgo the new-fangled monstrosity.
Got soft, green-sprouting organic potatoes? Don't toss them,bury them!
16. Raisins.Concentrated little grapes, concentrated levels of pesticides.
17. Cucumbers. Ever wonder why this delicious crisp vegetable was loosing its appeal on your palate? Yep! The answer is, once again, pesticides. The answer to pesticides, is, once again, go organic, or grow your own.

Why I go to the Chiropractor

It is actually Thursday night, but I am so prepared these days that I am getting Friday's info up a day early! This is a great (short) video about chiropractic and a little about innate intelligence. I went from being a person who had about zero knowledge about chiropractic and it's benefits to a 100% believer, who couldn't live without it. Chiropractic has helped me in so many ways. I found relief from symptoms that I didn't even know I had. Our bodies have a way of making us function, and after feeling the pain for awhile, we become numb to it. It was first (and best) explained to me like this; pinch the thumb on your left hand with your thumb and first finger of your right hand. Hold this for a few minutes, as the time goes on the pinching sensation seems to lesson, and almost go away. This is your bodies way of adapting so it can function. After being adjusted the first time it felt like a 15 pound weight had been lifted off of my left shoulder. Five years ago I had pain underneath my left shoulder blade. It was right after I had Alison and Lisa and although it got worse for a period of time it slowly went away, until I couldn't feel the pain anymore. I thought I was healed, cured, fine. After my first adjustment I immediately knew why I was feeling the relief, and was amazed that although I wasn't feeling the pain, my body was still silently suffering from the problem. After a few months of adjustments I started to know when I was "out" because I had a hard time falling asleep at night. Being in alignment I am able to put my head on the pillow and in a matter of minutes be asleep for the night. I am now practically headache free, when I do feel one coming on I get adjusted and it goes away. I had a headache for the first time, in a long time, when I was sick and couldn't believe that I used to accept it as something that just happened and I would fix with a Diet Coke! As you can tell I could go on for quite some time about why I love and believe in chiropractic, but I will save some for another Friday. In the mean time enjoy the show. (the slides do go a little fast, I am sorry about that but it's not my video so you may have to watch it twice.)

And if you would like to know more about innate intelligence visit Why Chiropractic Innate Intelligence.

MSG: Monosodium Glutamate

Yeah! We made it to the end of the week! The information that I have for today, is a little muddled in my mind. There is sooooo much information and this is something I definitely urge everyone to research further on there own. The topic of my choice for today it MSG, monosodium glutamate. I am more than willing to admit to my own ignorance, thinking that this is something that is sometimes in Chinese food, but most restaurants have a sign that says no MSG so I thought I was fine. I thought the only thing that MSG did was give you diarrhea, and help the food taste better, because it was like a spice of some sort. I was alarmed when Danny came home from school having learned more about it, and started reading labels. First I didn't realize that MSG was short for monosodium glutamate. It was draw dropping to see just how many of the foods in my pantry had it in them. Once I knew the long name, I decided it was time to research it. I believe Danny when he comes home and tells me what he has learned but I always do my own research, so that when I tell someone why I am doing something, I know all the reasons first hand. The research that I did initially was enough to make me get rid of some of the easy things, or find replacements for others. But it is literally in so many food items that it is difficult to eliminate it completely. I would be lying if I said that it was 100% out of my house. There are so many different aspects of why MSG is dangerous so I am sure I will revisit this on another Friday. However, I urge everyone to do some serious looking of there own onto the dangers of MSG. Instead of posting a portion of an article I am including some great links, as well as some general information.

MSG's job is to trick the brain about the food that you are eating. Making you sense more protein, and nutrition benefit than is actually there. Causing you to eat more, and enable the the food company to put less of real ingredients in the food. This is why MSG is labeled as a culprit in causing weight gain. It makes you eat more. At first I thought seriously, can an ingredient really trick you into thinking these things and eating more? But then, a few months ago I read an article in Forbes about the company who makes MSG pushing to put it in all food in nursing homes to help the elderly who have failure to thrive eat more. The left out the part about it working on the brain and not the stomach or taste buds, but non the less admitted that it would/could make you eat more.

I grew up thinking MSG would give you diarrhea. I was right, it is estimated that some 60% of the population has a sensitivity to MSG, and the result is diarrhea. Okay now is the moment for a possible amount of TMI (to much information). After eating certain foods I would always have to make a run for the toilet, and often times felt like I would certainly die while there. My mother, and sister suffer from this as well. It could hit at the worst times, driving in the car, on a date, on the phone just to name a few. We are very familiar with all of the gas station between Salt Lake and San Diego, and not because we had a small gas tank. In our family it is affectionately called a "gas attack". After reading up on MSG I realized that we all suffer in some degree from MSG sensitivity. As we have changed our diet in the past few years my "attacks" have become virtually non existent. I daresay this is from eliminating the vast amounts of vast food that I was eating, because again I was shocked at how many things in my home contained it. Small example almost ALL ketchup contains MSG, under the title "natural flavor."

It's in cream of chicken soup, bad new for mormon funeral potatoes... (I have struggled with this one since that soup is in a lot of good recipes...)

There are so many other ways MSG can affect you and I again urge all of you to look into this as some point in time. Even if it isn't right now. I know that with aspartame, it took me about 6 months until I got informed. The reason I waited wasn't because I didn't want to know but I wasn't ready to embrace the information I received and make a change. Again I am still trying to wrap my head around MSG and eliminating it from out diet ( this is complicated by the fact that it goes by several names). But I am starting the elimination process, and I am aware that to be 100% free of it is most likely not possible. But I want to get rid of as much of is as I can!
What is MSG?
http://msgmyth.com/
These ALWAYS contain MSG:
Glutamate
Glutamic acid
Gelatin
Monosodium glutamate
Calcium caseinate
Textured protein
Monopotassium glutamate
Sodium caseinate
Yeast nutrient
Yeast extract
Yeast food A
Autolyzed yeast
Hydrolyzed protein
(any protein that is hydrolyzed) Hydrolyzed corn gluten Natrium glutamate (natrium is Latin/German for sodium
YIKES!For more sources of MSG

Will I have to see the Chiropractor Forever?

It was mentioned to me the other day that once you see a chiropractor you will HAVE To go forever, this was my response:
The basic philosophy of chiropractic is not to relieve a symptom but to enable your body to function at it's optimal level. They do this through the nervous system, which is mostly located in your spine, hence the adjusment in the spine. If the nervous system is at's it's best this will enable the other systems in the body to be as well. This is done by finding and correcting subluxations (nerve interference in the spinal column this can be because of physical, emotional, or chemical trauma to the body). Once recognizing that not just physcial trauma can cause a subluxation needing chiropractic care for more than just headaches or car accidents becomes more clear. For most people care can be frequent at first, as much as three times a week. But after this initial period it becomes a matter of maintenance. Once a week, once a month, every other month. It is whatever you decide is best for you.
For myself personally I didn't think I NEEDED care. I felt pretty good most of the time, and Diet Coke helped the headaches (haven't touched one in almost 18 months!) After going I was amazed at how much better I felt overall, headaches were gone, my sleep improved, little aches and pains that I wasn't aware of until they were gone disappeared. For me it is worth going once or twice a month to prevent these things. You could really call it one of two things wellness care or preventative care.
As a parent that last thing I want it to see my children suffer. By getting them preventative or wellness care they are sick less often, and I have been amazed at what a wonder a small adjustment can do to help with things such as ear infections, coughs, stomach bugs. It is pretty wonderful to see your child suffering, receive an adjustment, spike a fever and be over the illness in 24-48 hours. For me and my family it is a choice of prevention and wellness. Just as I wouldn't skimp and buy cheap vitamins, or other supplements, I make sure I am doing the best to maintain my nervous system. Choose to spend the time and money to stay healthy, or choose to spend the time and money being sick and then geting better but never experiencing your highest level of health.
Chiropractic philosophy is the power that made the body will heal the body; The chiropractor didn't fix the body, they put the body in it's optimal state to heal itself (same philosophy of homeopathy and vital force). This is evidenced in something like low back pain. You may be feeling the pain in your low back, but the subluxation may be located in between your shoulder blades. By correcting this the low back pain is alleviated. That is also why chiropractic can help with things such as blood pressure, emotions, digestive problems, carpal tunnel, sciatica just to name a few.
I know this probably sounds like an infomercial, so I want to give a little more of my own history with chiropractic. I was raised entirely allopathic, my first three children did as well. I used drugs, and doctors to their fullest extent. Had anyone told me about chiropractors I would have probably politely agreed and then talked a mean storm about what a nut they were behind their back. (this was the case with my sister-in-law who doesn't vax, I thought she was for sure her kids were going to bring every ailment to my kids, I have since apologized.) I have learned from the ground up, done so much research and been so grateful to the things my eyes have been opened up to as a result of chiropractic (this happened when my husband started chiropractic school). My children were all fully vaxxed up until needing kindergarten shots, which we happily passed on. We ate fast food several times a week, and ate mostly processed food at home. This has changed almost completely, and I am excited with how much I have learned, how much more I have to learn, and the opportunity to share this with as many people as I can. Wow this got long, I hope this answered you question. And as my husband says, if you have a nervous system, you need a chiropractor.
Marci

Coconut Oil

Thanks for your patience! Lucky for me since I started this on Friday it will still post that way, and not throw my rhythm off. Coconut oil, what? When Danny came home and first told me about it I was like okay sure. So I went to find information at my first source for all my questions, wikipedia. I readn and I thought, well it sounds like good stuff, but I will stick with Olive Oil and Butter. He brought home a jar, it looks like criso, smells like coconuts. I didn't want to cook with it because I didn't want everything to start tasting like coconut. So it sat in the cupboard, and the one or so days of the week that Danny would cook he would use it. I believed what I had read about it's health benefits, but I wasn't sold until... I was going to saute some zucchini squash, as a new food for us, I wanted the girls to like it. I thought to myself, well the sweet of the coconut may just be good. Well I was right about that! A little coconut oil, chopped up zucchini, and some sea salt was great! It is what we use now to do most all of our cooking EXCEPT potatoes. Those little buggers do a good job of holding onto the taste of coconut, so unless that is what you are going for I advise olive oil.
I also use it to make popcorn on the stove (that is one of the latest to get the boot at our house microwave popcorn. A couple of tablespoons coconut oil, 1/2 cup popcorn seeds med-high heat =really gooooood popcorn.

I use it after I shave on my legs. I usually have some itchy, burning after I shave, not after using the coconut oil. It has antioxidants in it so on my face it goes. It is the only "lotion" I use on Nathan, and Annika thinks it marvelous. Alison and Lisa associate it the smell with popcorn, but they think that makes it even better. We had the bottle about 4 months before I decided to really start using it. We had about 2/3 of the bottle left when I made the switch. In just under a month it is almost gone! Can I say I LOVE IT! Please keep reading to find all the goodness it has to offer.
What makes it so good for you? Among several things is that it contains Lauric Acid, the only other abundant supply of lauric acid is found in breastmilk. Well you ask, what is lauric acid? I found this information at Lauric Acid (this is were I copy/pasted from, the information showed up in several places.)

"Much research on the nutritional and medicinal benefits on coconut oil has surfaced in recent years. Much of that research has been done by Dr. Mary Enig. Dr. Enig has classified coconuts as a "functional food," which provides health benefits over and beyond the basic nutrients. She has specifically identified lauric acid as a key ingredient in coconut products:

"Approximately 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, which has the additional beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the human or animal body. Monolaurin is the antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the human or animal to destroy lipid coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, cytomegalovirus, influenza, various pathogenic bacteria including listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia. Some studies have also shown some antimicrobial effects of the free lauric acid."

Now if that isn't enough to make you want to run out and buy some here are 7 more reasons! Seven reasons coconut oil good:

Wait don't read on yet, I do want to point out before you buy any coconut oil that it MUST be RAW, Extra Virgin, and Pure White to receive the health benefits. The best places to find it would most likely be a health food store such as Whole Foods Store.

This is the brand we buy.

7 Reason to use coconut oil

1. Coconut oil doesn't turn to fat in your body.

Unlike many other common oils, like soy (vegetable) and corn, coconut oil won't make you fat. Coconut oil contains medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which are an easy fuel for the body to burn, without turning to fat. Most other cooking oils and fats contain long-chain triglycerides (LCT). LCT's are usually stored as fat. Since coconut oil is a MCT, it is more easily absorbed and converted to energy quicker.

People in the tropics have relied on coconuts as a traditional staple in their diet for centuries. They consume large amounts of coconut oil every day. Instead of getting fatter, it helps them stay healthy, lean and trim. When they switch from coconut oil to our modern oils, they develop obesity and the health problems that our modern society faces.

Some other people who have known this truth for a long time are people who are in the animal feed business. When livestock are fed vegetable oils, they put on weight and produce more fatty meat. When they are fed coconut oil, they become very lean.

2. Coconut oil increases your metabolism.

Not only does coconut oil convert to energy quicker in your body, it increases your metabolism, which promotes weight loss. Because it boosts your metabolism, it helps your body burn fat more effectively.

Coconut oil may triple your calorie burn. Since coconut oil is a MCT, it is converted to energy so quickly that it creates a lot of heat. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, MCT's burn three times more calories for six hours after a meal than LCT's.

The February 15, 2005 issue of Woman's World magazine stated that coconut oil is the "underground high-metabolism secret."

This is great news for people who have thyroid problems, since coconut oil improves sluggish thyroids by stimulating the production of extra thyroid hormones. Most other common oils, like vegetable (soy) and corn have been shown to inhibit thyroid function.

3. Coconut oil contains healthy omega 3 fatty acids.

Most cooking oils contain omega 6 fatty acids, something we get way too much of in the United States. Our omega 6 to omega 3 ratio should be 1:1 but it is more like 50:1. We need to drastically cut back our omega 6 oils and consume much more omega 3 oils to be healthy. And coconut oil is filled with these healthy omega 3 fatty acids.

4. Coconut oil gives you energy.

Because of the healthy omega 3 fatty acids and the fact that it increases the metabolism, most people that switch to coconut oil feel a burst of added energy in their daily life.

This is because coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT's), which increase metabolic rates and lead to weight loss. MCT's promote thermogenesis, which increases the body's metabolism, producing energy.

This is because coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT's), which increase metabolic rates and lead to weight loss. MCT's promote thermogenesis, which increases the body's metabolism, producing energy. Many people with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia have found that adding coconut and coconut oil to their diet was helpful to them.

5. Coconut oil is one of the best things you can use on your skin and hair.

One of the best things you can apply directly on your skin and hair is coconut oil. It gives temporary relief to skin problems like rashes. It aids in healing and restoring skin to a younger appearance. It has also been known to help with people who suffer from yeast infections in the skin, as well as many other skin problems.

Not only does is soften and smooth your skin, coconut oil has antioxidant properties that protect the skin from free radical damage. Coconut oil makes excellent massage oil too.

6. Coconut oil has healthy benefits that most other oils do not.

Evidence is mounting that coconut oil has anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral effects when both consumed and used topically on the skin.

Most oils oxidize and turn rancid very quickly causing free radical damage in our bodies. Coconut oil is not easily oxidized and does not cause harmful free radical damage like polyunsaturated vegetable oils. Free radical damage is thought to be responsible for many ailments in our body from arthritis to increased susceptibility to cancers.

Coconut oil also helps our bodies absorb other nutrients more effectively, such as Vitamin E.

7. Coconut oil is one of the best oils you can use for cooking.

It has a higher smoke point than olive oil, which means it can take higher temperatures better. There are several healthy omega 3 oils we can choose to consume, such as flax and olive oil, but they don't do well under the high heat we use for cooking. Coconut oil can be used in higher cooking temperatures.

It is harder for coconut oil to go rancid, unlike other cooking oils, which are usually rancid long before you even bring them home. Rancid oils cause free radical damage in the body, which is a leading cause of cancer. Coconut oil is stable for over a year at room temperature.