Are Multi-vitamins and Pre-natal Vitamins Good for You?

Why does a post on vitamins have all these pictures of eggs?

Good Question!

It is very helpful to understand the world of vitamins if you understand the structure of an egg.

There are many vitamins, but all of them (Except Vitamin D) have a similar structure.  There is an outside shell and there are many parts inside.  They have a mineral core.  Vitamin C's core is copper and Vitamin E's core is calcium.  There are many enzymes and micronutrients in the structure.  We do not know nearly all those micronutrients and how they work together.  What they do all have is an anti-oxidant shell.  This mimics the shell of an egg.  It protects the insides of the vitamin from being oxidized by the oxygen that is carried in the blood.  It does have a function in the body as well.

SO, if we don't even know exactly what is in a vitamin, How do we think we can make one?!!!

Short Answer: We CAN'T!

So why do people think that they have to take vitamins?  Well, everybody knows that vitamins are essential to life.  We need them and we don't always eat an adequately nutritious diet to cover our body's needs and so we can fill in the holes with vitamins.  However,  the difference in the vitamins that are found in real food and the things that come from a tablet to our body is like  the difference between dollar bills and Monopoly money to our bank accounts.  They are not equivalent.  Unfortunately, most of the food on the grocery store shelves that isn't raw and unprocessed has had much of the nutrition removed from it, otherwise the food would spoil or mold.  Vitamins from whole real food are easily processed by our bodies and are complete vitamins.  Vitamins from a tablet in the grocery or health food store are equivalent to man made eggshells.  This is true whether we are talking about Vitamin A, B (s) C, E, etc. In other words, when you buy a multi-vitamin you are buying a bottle of eggshells.  They have a purpose, (to protect the whole vitamin inside you) but it is not the purpose of the whole vitamin.  It is like thinking you can eat a pile of eggshells and  get the nutrition of the whole egg, not happening.  Or similarly, thinking you can throw a bunch of walnut shells in your granola and have it be the same as adding a bunch of cracked walnuts.  They are not the same.  They are missing a lot.  All the vitamins are made by the pharmaceutical industry and are not nearly the same as what is in food.  They don't even treat the deficiencies of that vitamin.  Ascorbic acid does not fix scurvy.  During the Korean war many of the vets in the Korean prisons developed BeriBeri from eating a diet consisting primarily polished rice.  The International Red Cross brought them in Thiamine as a pharmaceutical powder.  It did not help much, if at all.  A kind hearted guard brought them in some rice polish, the powder that is scrubbed off the rice, and their symptoms cleared very quickly.  All the B vitamins start as a coal tar derivative (a waste product from the petroleum industry) and have a number of chemicals added until it looks something like the shell of a B vitamin.  Vitamin C starts off as corn syrup and has sulphuric acid and a number of other chemicals added until it looks like the shell of a Vitamin C molecule.  There is no copper anywhere!

In my last post on Vitamin C, I mentioned that Vitamin E (In the form of mixed tocopherols) had increased the rate of prostate cancer in men.  The medical community is clueless on why this happens.  I propose that it is not that difficult to understand.  When the body identifies an 'eggshell' or empty vitamin shell, it tries to put together a working vitamin.  It draws from its reserves and puts it together.  The mineral core of Vitamin E is Calcium.  IT is drawn from the most available source in the body, which is not the bone, but the blood.  Calcium has a major function in the blood in the immune system.  It regulates and keeps it working.  In fact, one of the reasons you get aches and pains with a fever is that the body is removing calcium from the bone to be used in the immune system in the blood. Calcium Lactate works great at decreasing the aches and pains of a fever as well as helping to bring the fever down.  In regards to Vitamin E, the body starts removing the calcium from the blood to make a functioning molecule.  This obviously slows down the immune system.  The result of this is that the immune system can not keep the cancer in check and the cancer develops and spreads at a much higher rate than normal.

I pulled up the following excerpt from an article on this from Medscape...

 As previously reported, men receive no preventive benefit from either selenium or vitamin E supplements; in fact, for certain men, these supplements actually increased the risk for prostate cancer.

The new study, published online February 22 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, explored which men who take these supplements are most at risk for prostate cancer, and why.

However, the ongoing public health message from the trial remains the same, said a trial investigator.

"Men using these supplements should stop, period. Neither selenium nor vitamin E supplementation confer any known [health] benefits — only risks," said lead author Alan Kristal, DrPH, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, in a press statement.

"Many people think that dietary supplements are helpful or at the least innocuous. This is not true," he added.

I have to concur with him.  Synthetic dietary supplements are not just innocuous, but can be harmful!

There have been a number of animal studies back in the 1930's and 40's (when such things were legal) that put the animals on a depleted diet, essentially a cardboard box diet, and gave half the animals a multi-vitamin along with the depleted diet.  They were surprised to find that the animals getting a vitamin showed symptoms sooner and died much sooner than the animals simply eating a depleted diet.  

So what is one to do?  There are a few companies that ONLY use whole food in their supplements.  Unfortunately, most who claim to be a whole food vitamin, still use the pharmaceutical vitamins in a whole food powder and call it a whole food vitamin.  Not even close to the same!!!  To determine if it really is a wholefood vitamin, read the fine print on the back.  Look where it says %DV (Stands for % of daily value) and look down the column.  If it has more than about 15% listed in the column then you know that it is synthetic.  Many times you will see numbers like 300% or even 2000% of daily value.  That's a whole lot of egg shells!  If one happens to be pregnant, then for sure you need a good whole food sourced vitamin and mineral.  Also, make sure you are eating lots of healthy fats! (butter, eggs, coconut oil, olive oil, bacon, lard)

My personal standby for this is is Standard Process.  They are a whole food vitamin manufacturer. They only sell to health care practitioners so you won't find them in the health food stores.  If I have a pregnant patient I get her on wheat germ oil ( a whole food source of vitamin E, traditionally used by doctors and farmers alike to maintain a healthy pregnancy), Catalyn ( a whole food supplement) and trace minerals and a whole food version of folic acid.  So much better than a pharmaceutical blend of egg shells.

I hope this helps some of you who have asked me questions recently on this subject.  I am happy to clarify or provide more information in future posts.

Echinacea Myths

Echinacea Angustifolia.

In the midst of this flu season, I would like to educate my dear readers about Echinacea.  There is much conflicting research about echinacea.  Why is that?  Is it worth taking?  Why is there such a variation in price?  How long is it safe to take? What would you take it for?

Echinacea is known to gardeners as the purple coneflower.  It is a wild species of the American prairies.  Native Americans used it for everything from boosting their alertness/energy to treating rattle snake bites.  It has been used by traditional herbalists for as long as there has been traditional herbalists.  It is imported by the rest of the world from America.  There are three common species of echinacea.  Two are used by herbalists.  The two varieties are Echinacea Purpurea and Echinacea Angustifolia.  So what is the difference?  The E.Purpurea species matures in three years and the E.Angustifolia species takes ten years.  Most herbal companies use the E.Purpurea species as it is much less expensive to grow and harvest because of the time to maturity difference.

The active ingredient in echinacea are the alkyl amides.  That is the immune modulating portion of the herb.  I say modulating, because herbs bring or modulate a system to normal or healthy.  Thus Echinacea is perfectly safe to take whether you are sick with the flu or have an auto-immune disorder.  Some people, mostly in the medical profession, think that because echinacea helps boost the immune system that it is dangerous to take if you have an auto immune disorder. This is simply applying pharmacological thinking to herbal principles.  They do not correlate very closely at all.  The alkyl amides are only found in the roots of the echinacea plant.  The leaves and flowering parts can be bought fairly inexpensively, so that is what is used in many echinacea products.  The alkyl amides can only be extracted by alcohol.   So a glycerin preparation is not very useful at all.

Echinacea has a multitude of uses.  I use it all the time and it has saved me many trips to the doctor.  I use it on any kind of cut or skin infection.  We use 'echinacea bandages' at our house.  We put echinacea on the pad of a band-aid and apply it over the sore.  We will change the band-aid 2-3 times a day.  An outer ear infection can be cleared up in very short order by dipping a cotton swab in the echinacea and gently sticking it in the ear canal for ten minutes.  If the skin is abraded then you might want to dilute it with pure water 50%.  Do this morning and evening and within 48 hours it will be 100% better.  Echinacea swabbed on a mosquito bite will remove the itch within five minutes.  Echinacea can be applied on a wart with an 'echinacea bandage' and they will be gone within 2 weeks.  I have used it on all different skin infections and seen them clear quickly.  A sore throat is helped by gargling diluted echinacea.  Then there is the common use of echinacea when it is taken internally.  It is useful for building immunity.  We use it at our house at the first sign of illness.  There has been interesting double blind studies done on college students who took tableted echinacea 2x a day for 2 years and it was found they had 80% less colds and flus than the control group.  There is absolutely no problem with taking echinacea everyday of your life.  The idea that you can only take echinacea for a short time is an urban legend that is based on an incorrectly interpreted research project.  This wrong idea has been disproven, but the urban legend lives on.  Echinacea has also been shown to modulate adrenal function.

So how do you know if you are getting the 'right' echinacea?  Start off by reading the small print on the side of the bottle.  It must say "Echinacea Angustifolia root" and be an alcohol extraction. Avoid anything that says proprietory blend.or doesn't list the specific species and plant part. The second step is a taste test.  Put a few drops in your mouth, or suck on the tablet and see if it makes your mouth  buzz like a bunch of bees are in there and make your saliva start running strongly.   If that doesn't happen then you  are wasting your money to buy that product.  The alkyl amides cause that reaction and since they are the part that has the immune modulating activity then if it doesn't react that way you can know that they aren't present and the product won't be helpful!  Echinacea tea has very little if any benefit, other than as a hot beverage.  As a physician, I get all my echinacea from Medi-Herb.  They have the highest quality herbal products on the market, although they only sell to health care professionals.  For those that want to make their own, I would buy the echinacea angustafolia root from Mountain Rose Herbs and then use alcohol and follow the normal methodology for making an herbal preparation.  Otherwise, contact me and I will be happy to get you your own supply of excellent quality echinacea angustifolia.

When is Vitamin C NOT Vitamin C?

Answer:  When it is ascorbic acid.
(Note: Personal Professional qualifications...Chiropractic Physician, Nutritionist, Herbalist)

Recently a number of my friends are talking about making and drinking a 'singing canary' from the recipe on the TrimHealthyMama website.  They asked me what I thought of it, and here is the long reply.  The Singing canary sounds great except for the fact that they include 4 GRAMS of Ascorbic Acid in it!!!  That is CRAZY!!!  Let me explain why and I will try and keep it simple.

Ascorbic Acid is part of the vitamin C molecule but it is NOT the whole molecule.  To illustrate my point, think of whole Vitamin C as an egg. Ascorbic Acid is like the egg shell.  It is the part that protects the main part of the whole vitamin (The anti-oxidant portion prevents the whole vitamin from being oxidized by the oxygen in the blood, this allows it to be used as a preservative).  It is no more a whole vitamin than an egg shell is equal to a whole egg.  If your body requires the nutrition of an egg, the yolk and the white, then you can eat eggshells all day long and not get the required nutrition.  The same is true of ascorbic acid.  Your body needs the nutrition from a whole Vitamin C and you can eat ascorbic acid all day long and you will still suffer from scurvy, the disease that results from a lack of Vitamin C.  Ascorbic Acid does not treat scurvy, but a couple bites of raw potato or a little bit of lime will!  That is because whole vitamin C is found in whole food!  It is the difference between eating eggshells vs a whole egg.  In a whole Vitamin C molecule there is ascorbic acid.  It composes about 5-10% of the whole Vitamin complex.  It is necessary to protect that complex, Just like an egg shell is necessary to bring the egg from the coop into the house, protect it in the fridge, and convey it to the pan. In our bodies,  Ascorbic Acid is used in the process of copying genetic material.

We need about 350 mg of ascorbic acid every day.  That is about the amount found in whole food in a healthy diet.  If you consume over 500 mg- 1 gm the body produces an enzyme called ascorbase that breaks down the ascorbic acid and excretes it out of the body.  But what about amounts over 1 gram?  In a recent nutritional seminar I was at they informed us that in the not too distant future prescribing large amounts of any vitamin would be considered malpractice.  4 GRAMS is huge!  Taking large amounts of Ascorbic Acid causes long term genetic damage, one of the things that people think they are preventing when they take it.  In the short term ascorbic ACID acts as a system acidifier and so people are using ascorbic acid pharmacologically to acidify their body.  This acidification does slow down viral replication and does help a bit in treating colds.  But it is not a natural treatment nor is it healthy!  The large amounts of ascorbic acid also irritates the bowel and causes a loose stool or even diarrhea.  This is a side effect of a pharmaceutical reaction.

So where does ascorbic acid come from?  If it is not part of a whole food molecule, then it is made from corn syrup, mixed with sulphuric acid and a number of other harsh chemicals and processed into something that looks and acts something like an egg shell.  It is made by the pharmaceutical industry.  If you look at your vitamin bottle and on the back it says '%DV' and you look down the list of ingredients until you see Vit. C/ascorbic acid and it says any number greater than 10% then you know that you are buying synthetic ascorbic acid produced by a drug company.  If a person has a corn allergy, they need to avoid ascorbic acid.  Many vitamin companies claim that their vitamin C is all natural!  This just means that they have some powdered whole food that they have added synthetic ascorbic acid to.  It is no longer natural.

Let's look a bit more at the whole food vitamin molecule.  All vitamins, except D which is really more a fat and is in a class by itself, have a core mineral and many other parts.  At this point we probably only know 50% of the parts and pieces in a whole food vitamin molecule.  Vitamin C has copper as it's core.  Vitamin E has Calcium.  Vitamin C has pyrosinase, copper, P factors, K factors, J factors and much more.  We are not that smart, we have no idea how to make a whole vitamin, we can only make something that looks like an eggshell.

So why do many people feel better when they take their vitamins?  There are several factors.  One, is that most multi-vitamins contain some minerals.  Most people are so depleted of minerals that getting any in is going to make a positive difference in their health.  Second, is that when the body sees that eggshell coming in, it draws from it's reserves and puts the pieces and parts together to make something like a whole functioning vitamin molecule.  However, in the long run this further depletes the body. That is why after awhile people stop getting those good results and think the vitamin isn't working as well, so they must need to take MORE!  This is wrong.  It just results in further depletion in the body.  If someone has toxic levels of copper, you can actually use ascorbic acid to chelate out that excess copper.

The bottom line is avoid multi vitamins!  Eat a healthy diet instead!  

I could go on about this for a LONG time because I have a lot to say re this topic!  You probably noticed.  I want people to stop wasting their money on things that are HARMFUL to them and instead eat healthy!  I am happy to address other questions re vitamins, minerals, herbs and nutrition.

Incidentally, Vitamin E in the form of mixed tocopherols causes cancer to come out of remission and to spread (metastasize).  There has been  double blind research done to document this, and it makes total physiological sense.  Can you think how this might work?  (Clue above.)

Picture on my camera that one of my kids took of their breakfast for some reason.
Note the healthy egg that was eaten- not just a pile of shells.

How BAD is SUGAR for you?!!

78 Reasons to Avoid Sugar

Straight from the writings of Dr. Victor Frank, founder/creator of Total Body Modification, here are 78 reasons to avoid sugar.

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.
2. Sugar can upset the body's mineral balance.
3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.
4. Sugar can drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
5. Sugar can adversely affect children's school grades.
6. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
7. Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.
8. Sugar can cause kidney damage.
9. Sugar can reduce helpful high density cholesterol.
10. Sugar can promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol.
11. Sugar may lead to chromium deficiency.
12. Sugar may cause copper deficiency.
13. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
14. Sugar may lead to cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, and rectum.
15. Sugar can cause colon cancer with an increased risk in women.
16. Sugar can be a risk factor in gall bladder cancer.
17. Sugar can increase fasting levels of blood glucose.
18. Sugar can weaken eyesight.
19. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which can narrow blood vessels.
20. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
21. Sugar can produce acidic stomach.
22. Sugar can raise adrenaline levels in children.
23. Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
24. Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and gray hair.
25. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
26. Sugar can produce tooth decay.
27. Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity.
28. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
29. Sugar can case a raw, inflamed intestinal tract in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.
30. Sugar can cause arthritis.
31. Sugar can cause asthma.
32. Sugar can cause candidiasis (yeast infection).
33. Sugar can lead to the formation of gallstones.
34. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.
35. Sugar can cause ischemic heart disease.
36. Sugar can cause appendicitis.
37. Sugar can exacerbate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
38. Sugar can indirectly cause hemorrhoids.
39. Sugar can cause varicose veins.
40. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraception users.
41. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
42. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
43. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.
44. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
45. Sugar leads to a decreased glucose tolerance.
46. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.
47. Sugar can increase total cholesterol.
48. Sugar can increase systolic blood pressure.
49. Sugar can change the structure of protein causing interference with protein absorption.
50. Sugar causes food allergies.
51. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
52. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
53. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
54. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
55. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA.
56. Sugar can cause cataracts.
57. Sugar can cause emphysema.
58. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
59. Sugar can cause free radical formation in the bloodstream.
60. Sugar lowers the enzymes' abilities to function.
61. Sugar can cause the loss of tissue elasticity and function.
62. Sugar can cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver.
63. Sugar can increase the amount of fat in the liver.
64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
65. Sugar can overstress the pancreas, causing damage.
66. Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention.
67. Sugar can cause constipation.
68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).
69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
70. Sugar can cause hypertension.
71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
72. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind's ability to think clearly.
73. Sugar can cause depression.
74. Sugar can increase insulin responses in those consuming high-sugar diets compared to low-sugar diets.
75. Sugar increases bacterial fermentation in the colon.
76. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.
77. Sugar can increase blood platelet adhesiveness, which increases risk of blood clots.
78. Sugar can increase the risk of Alzheimer's Disease.

I guess other than the above, it's OK.

What Should I be Eating?

I am in the process of putting together a brief Nutrition course for a girl's camp in a couple weeks. I am trying to organize and put together the different sessions. I thought I would do a couple posts on what I am going to be teaching.



Many people come to me with questions re what they should be eating. It is so confusing. This person says eat this while somebody else says that it is a big mistake to eat that. Who does one believe? Good question. I used to struggle with that question too. I have had to come up with an answer, and simple works for me.



Here are my basic principles:

1. If humans have ALWAYS eaten something, at least for the last 150 years, then it is OK to eat. If we have only started eating it more recently, then it is probably NOT good for you.
2. No sugar or white trash (white rice, pasta, white flour, white bread, etc.)
3. No Corn syrup or corn sugar (they are changing the name)
4. Nothing hydrogenated. If it says hydrogenated on the label, then DON'T eat it!
5. No Soy - Oil or flour.

That's it. Any diet works that eliminates processed foods and simple carbohydrates. You can put anybody's name on it and people will lose weight and get healthier if they eat it.

The other thing that is important is to eat enough healthy fats, minerals and protein.

Bon Appetite!
~Mom

Sugar, A Mind Numbing Substance

Most everybody knows that eating too much sugar can trigger type II diabetes, also known as adult onset diabetes. Type I is juvenile diabetes,and in that form the body stops making insulin. Type II is characterized by insulin resistance. The body still makes some insulin, but the receptors that it is supposed to work at, are basically burned out from over use. Type II is reversible with the right dietary changes. God made the human body to know how to heal itself, when we quit abusing it.
Why is an elevated sugar level a problem? When sugar becomes elevated it cross reacts with proteins and damages the tissue. This is why diabetics have so much of a problem with tissue healing.
But what about the "mind numbing" part of the title? I was at a seminar a couple weeks ago and some cutting edge research was presented on a new discovery. An organ can have localized insulin resistance while the rest of the body has normal blood sugar levels. Adult acne, for example, is known as 'diabetes of the skin'. The new research shows that there is localized insulin resistance of the brain as well. Scientists took mice and injected them with a drug that causes insulin resistance to them and sure enough they develop Type II diabetes. They took other mice and injected this drug into their brain. The mice developed diabetes of the brain, and the major symptom was dementia. On autopsy, they discovered that the brains of mice with this 'diabetes of the brain', and brains with Alzheimer's disease were identical. Although it is probably premature to say that eating sugar causes Alzheimer's disease, there is a strong enough reasonable correlation, to make one want to think twice before reaching for that piece of dessert.
Just something to think about...
~Mom

Sugar is not so Sweet!

This blog post is dedicated to Mrs. Potatohead. Sugar. It used to be a treat. Something to be enjoyed on a birthday or special occasion. Certainly not something that most people had on a daily basis. Even honey and maple sugar were utilized sparingly. Now it is part of every meal, and almost every beverage. The average American consumes over 100 pounds of the white stuff a year. It is addictive. It feeds the same craving as alcohol. When an alcoholic gives up booze he almost always turns to sugar, and in large amounts. He finds it harder to give up sugar than booze. It is everywhere. It is in almost everything!
Is this a problem?
I am a chiropractic physician and I can tell you when every major holiday is. I have a sudden upsurge in patient visits the weeks after the holiday. The adults come in complaining of musculoskeletal pain and the children have colds and flu's. I ask them what they have been eating and the story is always the same. There has been an overindulgence of sweets. I ask them if it is worth it. They ponder the question and then say "no!". Alas, the next time temptation on a plate is put in front of them, they forget and so the cycle continues. Maybe I shouldn't tell people how sugar works. It does keep me in business. I understand human nature well enough, that I know there is no danger of a sudden universal attack of self-control. My business will always have a steady stream of overindulgent patients.

What does sugar do? Why does it cause these problems? Let me give you a few basics...
1. Sugar increases inflammation. Anything that ends in "-itis", sugar makes it worse. Whether it is arthritis, dermatitis, sinusitis, etc. sugar makes it worse. All those chronic complaints suddenly become a major pain with the addition of sugar.
2. Sugar suppresses the immune system. It makes you more vulnerable to any passing cold or flu.
3. Sugar makes you more vulnerable to stress. Sugar requires drawing the B vitamins out of your system in order for your body to metabolize them. It upsets your blood sugar levels which puts extra stress on your adrenals. The adrenals have to work extra hard then on long term blood sugar stability. They have less ability to handle their other function of adapting to life stresses.
4. Sugar can cause depression. The constant ups and downs of the blood sugar make your body more prone to depression.
5. Sugar feeds cancer cells. If you have cancer in your body, the tumor has the fastest uptake of sugar of any tissue in the body. Your doctor knows this. That is why they attach a radioactive isotope to a sugar molecule, and inject it in your body to check for metastasis (cancer spreading). There has been some excellent research that indicates that a low carb diet ( less than 50 gm of carbohydrates) along with other therapies really improves the outcome of many cancers.
These are things to seriously think about.
I'm a mom with six children. How do we do it? First, I tell my children that it is not sinful to eat sugar. It is not wisdom, though. Second, My children have learned that a bite or two of sugar satisfies your curiosity of the taste. After that, you are just eating to eat. They generally will take a piece and split it up and they don't feel bad about leaving some on their plate. (We have a different rule for veggies.) We don't keep sugar in the house. If we bake we generally use honey or maple syrup as a sweetener. We try and keep the baking for special occasions and company. We got the sugar out of the house about 8 or 9 years ago. Prior to that we got sick just like every other family. We got fevers, colds and flu's a couple times a year. Since we gave up the sugar, we have only had children sick with fevers 3 times. Now when the children start to get a cold or not feel well, I ask them, "What did you eat?" Then it is confession time. I don't yell or punish, I just connect the behavior with the consequences. They have gotten smarter over the years and they very rarely indulge now. I do have one or two that threaten to go out and eat a bunch of sugar, just so they can get sick and get some time off of school. We didn't have any sick days the last school year for our children. I will admit that the stomach flu's have not been totally banished from our house - they seem to have different rules that they go by.
I hope that you have found this at least thought provoking. I am planning to write some more general nutrition posts in the coming months. What are your questions?
~Mom

Cereal Killer - A Giveaway!

I was raised in a home where the pun was the highest form of humor, so the title of this book made me laugh and intrigued me. 'Cereal Killer' by Alan Watson is a well written and entertaining book about the dangers of a low fat diet and what you should be eating to be healthy. Did you know that heart attacks were virtually non-existent prior to the 1920's and the advent of corn oil, vegetable oils and margarine? How can this be, when your medical doctor is telling you that low fat is necessary for heart health? It is time to look at the facts. Mr. Watson goes through a lot of very well written and documented books ('Good Calories, Bad Calories' by Gary Taub; 'Know Your Fats' by Mary Enig, 'Nutrition and Physical Degeneration' by Weston A. Price, and others) and simplifies them and makes the information in them understandable. He has one of the best simple explanations of cholesterol that I have seen. It is nice that at the end of each chapter he tells you which book he was basing it on. He gives you information on another book on the same topic if you want to do further reading. If you are confused about the role of fats in your diet you will find this to be a very helpful book. I am handing them out to patients right and left. My children have found this book interesting and I find them reading through some of the chapters often and I haven't assigned it.

If you would like to win a free copy of this book leave a comment and I will mail one to the winner (We will select a winner randomly) . I will close the opportunity on Friday May 14th at 5 PM EST.

If you don't win, and would still like a copy I will be happy to mail one to you (continental USA only) for $10 shipping and handling included.

~Mom