Say no to food dyes!

I always find things like this interesting. Its a super short article about how certain food dyes have been shown to increase hyperactivity in children. Read it here. I think the most important thing is to read the food labels! Now I definitely use lots of food dyes when I make frostings and fondant for my cakes, so hopefully a tiny bit for every birthday won't hurt, but I am trying to avoid them in the foods I buy for every day consumption.

Read this

Its about hot dogs and brain tumors in children. Basically sodium nitrite actually...

check it out here

I've been looking at my food labels lately to check for nitrites but didn't really fully know why. Now I know! I'm glad my kids don't like hotdogs, but they do LOVE pepperoni pizza. I think I'll be ordering cheese from now on. :) And thankfully my new favorite grocery store, The Sunflower Market, carries nitrite free bacon and lunchmeat.

I loved this article. And I loved that it was in the headlines on AOL. It's about how "low-fat" has contributed to obesity and the creation of fake foods. I'm trying hard not to be afraid of fat. But only fat in its purest forms. None of this hydrogenated stuff, canola oil, margarine, etc. But it is SO hard to switch my mindset. Even harder is to get myself off of refined sugars. I had a goal to not eat any until my birthday and failed 10 days into it while making some chococonut cookies for Nathan and Easton. DOH! And it doesn't help that I am trying to be a cake decorator. Yikes!

Read it here

Love it

I can't believe I've never blogged about Peppermint oil!! It is a staple in our home. It's an essential oil that has amazing properties. Nathan gets a LOT of headaches and a good number of migraines. Before we discovered peppermint oil he popped a LOT of excedrin or ibuprofen. I always hated it but you definitely do what you have to do when you get a migraine. Now he puts peppermint oil on his head when he gets one and usually avoids getting a full blown migraine and also avoids taking meds! It's usually in his work bag. Yummmm peppermint...

Not convinced? Well my sister Melissa has AWFUL migraines. They are called "cluster headaches" and supposedly they are worse than having a baby. Literally. She's had braces, chiropractic adjustments, and even been put on blood pressure meds to help get rid of them but nothing worked. When she visited me in August I was shocked at how many headaches she got and how debilitating they were. She also is hypoglycemic so if she didn't eat enough she'd get a headache. ANd she took way too much excedrin EVERY DAY. Well first I told her about peppermint oil and then I had her talk to my friends husband who is a chiropractor and he gave her a chiropractic pillow like the one I have (I LOVE IT!). Well over Thanksgiving break she told me she hadn't had to use Excedrin for over a month. A month!

Oh, and another thing that made me happy...

I was looking at my pediatricians website and I found this article about garlic oil for ear infections. Woohoo!
http://seaviewpeds.com/garlicdrops.pdf

Homeopathy wins again...

Doctor told me to get Miralax for Lincoln's issues. Miralax is only approved for children over the age of 6. I didn't feel too comfortable with it so I looked online at Dr. Sears who is one of those natural types and he recommended trying Flax Oil.

Worked in 12 hours.

Flax Oil is super good for you. Has lots of Omega-3 and Omega-6 oils in it, which are great for your heart. I might just be chugging a teaspoon of the stuff every day myself.

Why don't doctors try the homeopathic route first? It just doesn't make sense. Medicine is a fantastic invention, and definitely inspired in some aspects, but our Heavenly Father also gave us and our ancestors plenty of things to use on this earth for our benefit as well.