Choices, Choices, Choices

When it comes to choosing which vitamins to take, it is pretty confusing out there. Our first choice is where we buy our vitamins. We can go to the drug store, the health food store, buying clubs like Costco or through direct sales/internet where they are delivered to our homes. After we make that choice, there are dozens of the same type of vitamins to choose from. What criteria should we use? Most people think price. But when it comes to quality, price is not the standard to go by.

Most people do not realize that there are three main ways of manufacturing vitamins on the market. So to the untrained eye, these vitamins all look the same except for the price point. So here are some pointers to help you choose more wisely.

Typically if you are shopping in a drug store or some buying clubs, you are going to find the synthetic type (test tube type) of vitamins.

Features of Synthetic Vitamins:

• Use man-made, inorganic substances, chemically derived, often petroleum-based products
• Often contain sugar & unnatural flavours, colours, fillers, binders, preservatives, sweeteners
• Chemical, high-heat or high-pressure processing destroys active ingredients & enzymes
• Very poor dissolve-ability
• Very poor bio-availability
• Do not build long-term health
• May act as a stimulant (temporarily feel ‘better’)
• May have negative side effects in some people
• Unrecognized by body, not found in nature, ‘unnatural’ to self

When vitamins are made synthetically, it costs very little and that is passed along to the consumer. But when you think about it, are you really saving money when the money you just spent is not being utilized in your body? To me that is a waste of money.

If you are shopping in a typical health food store and some direct sales companies, you are going to find natural isolates using the extraction method.

Features of Extracted Vitamins:

• Isolated nutrient; no co-factors present; poorly balanced formula
• ‘Natural’ sourced – only a small portion must be natural, according to government labeling regulations
• May contain questionable fillers, binders, etc.
• Processing methods questionable; active ingredients & enzymes often destroyed
• Often poor dissolve-ability
• Often poor to fair bio-availability
• Better than synthetics, but do not build true long-term health
• Portions recognizable by body but have to steal co-factors from your body for true absorption; so gives to you and steals from you.

When you are buying the extracted version, it is a toss-up whether you are getting ahead or not as it depends on how much your body needs to “spend” in order to get the extracted vitamin metabolized. So the potential for losing money is there if your body does not have adequate stores of nutrients to help with the processing of the extracted version.

If you are shopping through some direct sales companies or getting your vitamins from a practitioner of some kind, then you are probably getting whole food, nutrient dense concentrates.

Features of Whole Food, Nutrient Dense Concentrates:

• Nature’s balance; high potency; nature’s co-factors present
• High quality, pure, organically sourced raw materials
• Low heat or no heat, low pressure processing ensures active ingredients and high enzymatic activity
• No harsh binders, fillers
• No refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colours, flavours
• Ideal, effective dissolve-ability, available when & where needed
• Ideal, effective bio-availability, easily utilized by cells
• Body recognizes as ‘belonging to self’ or ‘natural’, highly usable
• Builds long-term health by supporting body’s innate wisdom

When you compare whole food concentrates with real food, you see that you save money while being nourished. For example, one of my Vitamin C tablets costs me 22 cents and it is equal to my buying 7 and half oranges. My body feels the difference when I nourish it properly which is my biggest saving.  Since the food values have decreased due to food becoming a business and the soils being depleted, my body loves the whole food nutrient dense concentrates to supplement what I am missing from my diet.

Bottom line; when it comes to choosing your vitamins, you get what you pay for. If you are interested in exploring this further, I have a list of scientific questions that will help you confirm whether or not you are getting your money’s worth when buying vitamins. Contact me and I will send you this list.

I’d love to hear from you or answer any questions.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you.

To your good health!

Charlene Day

For my daughter’s birthday, I decided to hire a raw food chef to prepare a totally raw gourmet dinner. I knew it would be a completely new experience for the whole family, except me, who has eaten this way before.  Not only was this a healthy gift, consuming a diet of raw food has a healthy impact on the environment as well. Read on to find out how.

I consulted with both Alexi Bracey (the raw food chef) and my daughter and came up with a menu that would suit most of the varying taste buds within our family. What we came up with was a choice of soups; Sweet and Spicy Red Pepper or Borscht, Lasagna and Coleslaw for the main course and Carrot Cake or Lemon Tart in Pecan Crust for desert.

The choices were good as we covered most of the family taste buds that way. During the dinner, there were tons of questions about ingredients and how it was made and most of the family enjoyed the meal.

The resounding response was that the meal was extremely filling and there was no snacking after the meal and during our evening conversation. Everyone felt very nourished and very full. So I felt that I had given a very healthy gift not only to my daughter but to the rest of the family as well. The grandkids will grow into it as they mature, but they at least tried everything.

So why raw food?

The raw food diet is one of the best kept secrets to creating optimal health, emotional balance and spiritual transformation. I find when I eat more raw, my energy changes. I am more alive and have more energy. I also notice a difference in my vibration. It is not as dense. In terms of the environment, it reconnects me again to Nature and Mother Earth.

Raw foods are alive with their enzymes intact. Processed food has valuable but fragile vitamins, enzymes, phytochemicals and probably other things as well, destroyed during cooking and processing.

Raw and living foodists eat all fruits, vegetables, seaweed, sea vegetables, roots, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains, sea vegetables and other organic/natural foods that have not been processed, such as fresh fruit or vegetable juices, sweeteners, fresh herbs, raw spices, young coconut milk, fresh nut milks, purified water and oil.

There are special ways to prepare the foods by soaking, sprouting, juicing, dehydrating, pickling, and blending. This involves equipment like:

• containers for soaking the seeds, grains and beans
• a dehydrator (a piece of equipment that can blow air through food at low temperatures)
• a juicer, blender, food processor, and a sprouter

There are other pieces of equipment you may need when you get into the gourmet aspects of preparation, but these are the essential ones.

There are numerous health benefits to eating this way:

• increased energy,
• clearer skin,
• illness prevention,
• slowed aging,
• a naturally detoxed body,
• reduced risk of disease, etc.

In addition, raw food is rich in fiber, more flavorful, you can eat as much as you want and still maintain a healthy weight, it is easier to digest and it takes less time to prepare in most cases, easier to clean up, and there is more nutritional value in the food.

Let us not overlook the effect on the overall environment.  Eating raw is also environmentally sound. Think about it: with humanity on a diet of raw foods, the food industry would close up shop and take up organic gardening. What a concept! This would save us enormous amounts of natural resources used to produce power for these industries. Also, think of the forests we’d save, when we wouldn’t need the paper and plastics used in packaging our processed foods. There would also be less carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere when all the cooking stopped.  More oxygen would be produced from all the new orchards and gardens. I know this whole idea might seem improbable, but if all of us made a few changes bit by bit, it would add up to help save Mother Earth.

I know we are not anywhere near this little dream of mine, but it is good to dream and throw around these ideas. I want our future generations to enjoy this planet as much as we have. Slowly more and more people are getting back in touch with themselves and with nature. So you never know what the future holds.

I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

To your good health!

Charlene

Let’s continue to unravel the confusion around the types of sweeteners on the market today, starting with the carbohydrate sugars.  There is one exception in the list, stevia has no carbohydrates. These are the more common ones we see on packaging and they are listed in alphabetical order. (A quick pointer on terms – monosaccharides are the simple sugars like glucose and fructose.  Disaccharides (double sugars) are two monosaccharides joined together i.e. sucrose which is glucose and fructose.)

Amazake: A natural disaccharide sweetener made from brown rice with similar characteristics to honey and rice syrup.

Agave Nectar: A natural liquid sweetener that is less viscous than honey, agave nectar comes in three grades: Light, medium and amber. Light agave is sweet but neutral. The flavor of agave becomes more intense and earthy with the darker grades. Agave is extracted from the agave plant, and is low on the glycemic index.

Brown Sugar: This is ordinary table sugar that is coated with small amounts of molasses.

Barley Malt: Dark, sticky and boldly flavored, barley malt sugar is neither as assertive as blackstrap molasses nor as sweet as honey. Primarily maltose, it is a complex sugar that enters the bloodstream slowly. This sweetener offers trace amounts of eight vitamins and several minerals.

Birch syrup: is a sweetener made from the sap of birch trees, and used in much the same way as maple syrup.

Chicolin: This is a soluble fiber called Inulin, derived from the tubers of the chicory or dahlia flower plant. This soluble fiber is found in numerous roots in various amounts such as dahlia flower tubers, chicory roots, dandelion roots, burdock roots, Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, and onions.

Corn Syrup: It contains anywhere from 43-90% fructose, the rest is glucose (the sugar our body burns as fuel) and a small amount of other sugars such as maltose.

Date Sugar: Not actually a sugar in the conventional sense, date sugar is ground from dehydrated dates. Dates are high in fiber, and rich in a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, including iron. It does not dissolve when added to liquids.

Demerara, Turbinado and Raw Sugar: These are various grades of granulated dark brown sugar obtained from the evaporation of sugar cane juice leaving the molasses.

Dextrose: This is the “right handed” variation of glucose. It is usually made from corn or grape sugar. It is a monosaccharide.

D-Mannose: A simple sugar derived from cranberries, blueberries, peaches, oranges, apples and pineapples, which does not interfere with blood sugar regulation.

Fruit Juice: A common sweetener used for many health-store-packaged cereals, cookies, etc.  It contains some vitamins and minerals.

Fruit Juice Concentrates: Made from the juice of fruit that has been reduced about one quarter by slow cooking. Note that some commercial fruit juice concentrates have been stripped of flavor and nutritional value.

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS): These are sucrose molecules linked in sequence with fructose. They are found naturally in many vegetables, grains and fruits. FOS promotes the growth of the beneficial gut bacteria (lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidus) and prevents fungal (Candida) overgrowth. Good natural sources of FOS include Jerusalem artichoke flour, asparagus, onion, leek, garlic, dahlia inulin, chicory and burdock.

Fructose: This is a monosaccharide found naturally in most fruits and some vegetables. Apples, raisins, kiwis, grapes, green beans, cabbages, cucumbers, eggplants, and tomatoes are some of the best sources of fructose.  It can also be produced through the conversion of corn syrup starches. It is generally believed that fructose doesn’t disturb the blood sugar level as much as sucrose.

Glucose: Glucose is a monosaccharide found in fruit, vegetables and honey. It is also commercially produced from cornstarch that has been treated with heat, acids and enzymes. All natural sugars are converted by the body to glucose, which is rapidly absorbed into the blood stream and used for fuel.

Granulated Cane Juice : It is whole cane sugar with the water removed, which makes it slightly healthier than refined sugar. It contains small amounts of vitamins and minerals, which offset the deleterious effects of sugar.

Granular Fruit Sweeteners: White grape juice and grain sweeteners that have been dehydrated and granulated.

Honey: A whole food made by bees from flower nectar. Raw, unpasteurized honey is a good sugar alternative because it is considerable sweeter and people tend to use less of it. It contains small amounts of vitamins and trace minerals. Manuka honey from New Zealand has been proven therapeutic for peptic ulcer disease.

Invert Sugar: This is simply sucrose that has been subjected to “hydrolysis” which breaks the disaccharide sucrose into its constituent sugars, glucose and fructose.

Lactose: This is sugar found in milk.

Licorice Root: It can be used as a natural sweetener in small amounts without serious adverse reactions.

Maltose: Sprouted grains and cooked rice, heated and fermented until starch turns to sugar.

Maple Syrup: Boiled-down sap of maple trees. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Maple syrup has twice as much calcium as milk. Not all maple syrup is pure; some contains traces of formaldehyde, a carcinogen, so it is best to buy organic maple syrup. This is a natural occurring sweetener, which is at best, 65% sucrose. It is basically a sugar equivalent with a similar biochemical effect as raw, unpasteurized honey. Maple Sugar: Maple sugar is what is left when all of the liquid had been cooked out of maple syrup. Maple sugar has a wonderful, maple and earthy flavor that lends depth to baking and cooking.

Mannitol, Sorbitol, Xylitol: These compounds derived from fruits, vegetables and birchwood chips, are used in “sugar free “candies, mints and gums. They are absorbed more slowly into the blood stream and unlike sucrose, don’t cause a rapid increase in blood sugar levels. Xylitol helps prevent dental cavities.

Molasses: Unsulphured molasses is made from the juice of sun-ripened cane; sulfured molasses is a byproduct of refined sugar; blackstrap molasses is the residue of the cane syrup after the sugar crystals have been separated. It is rich in nutrients like B vitamins, vitamin E, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chromium, manganese, and zinc.

Natural and Organic Sugar: These sweeteners are minimally processed sugar cane. The syrup is dehydrated, and then milled into a powder.

Palm Sugar: Was originally made from the sugary sap of the date palm or sugar date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms. It is considered low glycemic and high in nutrient value.

Rice Syrup: A traditional Asian sweetener, brown rice syrup is made from rice starch converted into maltose, a complex sugar. Rice syrup is the mildest-flavored of the liquid sweeteners and contains trace amounts of B vitamins and minerals. It is full of the nutrients of unrefined brown rice.

Sorghum Syrup: This is nutritious sweet syrup made from a tall annual plant of the grass family, much like Indian corn. Sorghum is sometimes called Guinea Corn.  Sorghum cane juice is boiled to a syrup.

Stevia: (Contains no carbohyrdrates) This plant is a perennial shrub, the extracts of which have been used for centuries as a safe natural sweetener by people in Paraguay and Brazil. Stevia is 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar. It is virtually calorie free. It does not trigger a rise in blood sugar. It has anti-fungal properties, is a plaque retardant, and is beneficial in fat absorption, blood pressure regulation and prevention of cavities. It does increase energy. It improves digestion by stimulating the pancreas. As sweeteners go, it is quite expensive, though a little goes a very long way.

Sucrose: It is a disaccharide mixture composed of one molecule of glucose and one of fructose. It is table sugar derived from sugar beets or sugar cane that are crushed and dissolved in water. The raw syrup is boiled down to concentrate it to a point where some fraction crystallizes.

Sucanat: The trade name for this product stands for SUgar CAne NATural, and is made from evaporated sugar cane juice. It is then milled into granules much the same size as white sugar, but with a tawny hue. It is not bleached as white sugar is, only the water is removed. Sucanat is about 88% sucrose, but it retains more vitamins, minerals, and other trace nutrients found in sugar cane.

Sugar In The Raw: Semi refined sugar, which is 99 percent sucrose.

Yacón Syrup: A sweetening agent extracted from the tuberous roots of the yacón plant. It is a glucose-free sweetener and contains sugars that are complex enough to be medicinal.

Remember all carbohydrates, with the exception of cellulose, are converted to glucose (blood sugar) during the digestive process. Glucose provides the body with energy.  My hope is that with this list, you will be more informed to choose the sweeteners that are not going to deplete or harm your body in any way. The more unprocessed the sweetener is and the richer in nutrients it is, the more you can enjoy every mouthful. Your body will thank you.

For more information, please visit my last blog post called The Truth About Refined Sugar.

I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

To your good health!

Charlene

Sugary confections are now considered an essential and innocent aspect of holiday celebrations. I’m sure with Valentine’s Day this week, lots of you will be consuming some sort of sugary substance.

Sugar – there seems to be much confusion around this sweetener. Much of the confusion is around all the various types of sugar on the market today.

Let’s start with refined white sugar that is so prevalent in our food. In the processing of the sugar beets for our consumption, lime or carbon dioxide is added. Then bone-black (animal charcoal) is used as a filter to “purify” the mixture. The sugar is thoroughly heated twice and then it is brought to a boil. Bleach is next. A strong bleaching agent such as blue water is used to make it the white substance we are familiar with. Through this process, it becomes devitalized, de-mineralized and robbed of any life-giving qualities it once possessed.  It is empty calories with no nutritional value.

Sugar throws body chemistry into biochemical chaos lasting for six to eight hours after consumption. During this period, hormone, fat, carbohydrate and protein metabolism are greatly disrupted.

Using sugar promotes nutrient deficiencies. It must steal essential vitamins and minerals (chromium, magnesium, zinc and vitamins B and C) from our body in order to be metabolized. Sugar and vitamin C use the same transport mechanism. Excessive sugar intake overloads this transport system and causes vitamin C deficiencies. Sugar inhibits the release of omega 6 essential fatty acids from storage in fat tissues, thereby contributing to an essential fatty acid deficiency.

While sugar is being absorbed into the body, you may feel a quick pick-up as the adrenals are gathering every resource to deal with the sugar. The adrenals are concerned with keeping blood sugar levels up in the body. The pancreas is concerned with keeping the blood sugar levels down. This causes stress in the body. The glucose levels drop and you feel listless and tired or jumpy. Wanting another lift, most people eat more sugar. The adrenals end up worn out and eventually become damaged.  Adrenal exhaustion is now a common problem in the chronically ill.

Here’s the challenge: The human body was simply not designed to handle refined sugars. They are not whole food. They bring about a deadly combination of malnutrition and toxicity. Refined sugar is new to the human diet and people are eating an enormous amount of it — almost half a pound per day! Feeding refined sugar to a human body is similar to burning high-octane aircraft fuel in an automobile engine. Impressive amounts of energy, but after a while, you damage the engine.

Sugar was locked away in apothecary shops as a dangerous drug in the Middle Ages. It is a substance that breaks down the cells in the body, interferes with the chemistry of digestion, dulls the brain, clogs the system and hinders the working of the body. In my book, The Immune System Handbook, page 87, I talk about sugar as the single most underrated cause of immune impairment.

The evidence that sugar damages health is overwhelming. It has been associated with obesity, gout, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, increased triglyceride levels in the blood, high cholesterol levels and increase in blood pressure, liver enlargement, kidney disease, arthritis, stomach ulcers, mood swings or fluctuating energy levels and mental disorders, diabetes, hypoglycemia, tooth decay, bone loss, osteoporosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases. In fact, the rise of chronic disease in modern societies has paralleled the rise in sugar consumption. Major health problems like hormonal imbalances and exhausted glands i.e. pancreases, adrenals, and thyroids are associated with the intake of sugar.

Dr. Abram Hoffer, a Canadian Doctor who is a two time Nobel laureate says, “Sugar causes addiction far stronger than what we see with heroin. It is the basic addictive substance from which all other addictions flow, including alcoholism.” Sugar has been found to be as powerful an addiction as alcohol, tobacco or drugs.

The bottom line; deficiency and toxicity are the two causes of disease and sugar is a leading contributor to both. This is why sugar is a major cause of our modern epidemic of chronic, degenerative diseases.

Let’s take this one step further and think about the energy of refined sugar.

If it is empty calories with no nutritional value, then the vibrational frequency will not be very high.

The vibration we are looking for is the one that keeps our energy high. So the more alive and untreated the food is, the more it will nourish us on all levels. In the next blog I will cover which complex sugars are more nutritious with a higher vibration and help cut through the confusion around all types of sugar on the market these days.

You can refer back to this Ideal Basic Diet chart from an earlier post for more ideas on good choices. The Immune System Handbook and the charts are available at www.healthysoul-utions.com

Health is a choice. If you want to vastly improve health, choosing whole food over adulterated food will do you the world of good.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Stay tuned.

Charlene

Nature Versus The Business Of Food

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” Arthur Schopenhauer

From a marketing perspective, milk is often described as “Nature’s Perfect Food”.  It is recommended by traditional doctors, television ads and even our own mothers.  After all, milk builds strong bones and teeth, it’s natural, and it’s loaded with calcium. This is what many people still believe.

So the new truth is, we are the only species on earth to continue consuming milk past the age of weaning. If milk is such a good thing, why are thousands of North American women being diagnosed with osteoporosis? Cow’s milk and cow’s milk products are the highest mucous foods you can consume. They clog the blood and arteries leading to heart disease. The hormones in milk have been implicated in promoting fibrocystic breast disease and breast cancer. They are the leading cause of childhood ear infections, asthma, sinusitis, allergies, excess mucous, weight issues and behavioural disorders. What about the increase in childhood cancer and juvenile diabetes rates? The list goes on and on. Clearly it’s not as nature intended.

What did nature intend? Well, if we go back to times before food became a business, we see that cows were treated more humanely and not kept in stalls all their lives. We see that cows were in the pastures and were grass-fed. The animals were not treated with hormones, fed antibiotics, or other unnecessary drugs, so their products were healthy, wholesome and natural in every sense of the word.

Raising animals on pasture is better for the animals, the farmers, and the environment. Just as important, grass-fed products are better for your health. They are lower in total fat and calories but richer in “good” fats such as omega-3 fatty acids and the cancer-fighting fat, CLA. Conjugated linoleic acid or CLA has demonstrated a multitude of benefits in animal studies, including fat reduction, increase in lean muscle mass, reduced risk of diabetes, reversal of arteriosclerosis, and a marked reduction in tumor growth. Grass fed milk has up to 500% more CLA. In New Zealand today, all cattle are grass-fed, thus insuring a high nutrient content of their milk, butter, and meat.

So what happened when food became a business? Most of the meat, poultry, dairy products and eggs available in your grocery store come from animals that are raised in large confinement facilities where they are fed grain-based diets and treated with a variety of drugs. Today’s milk comes from cows that live in over-crowded conditions with limited space to move around. Disease spreads quickly and many antibiotics are used to treat the sick animals.

Hormones, chlorine, pasteurization, homogenization, added synthetic vitamins are all used in the production of milk. Cow’s milk, both regular and organic, contains up to 59 active hormones, high fat content and hundreds of allergens. And if these were not enough, milk contains high amounts of herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, blood, pus and a variety of bacteria and viruses.

Sure, homogenization and pasteurization can kill most of the bacteria, but not the toxins these bacteria create. These high heat processes also destroy the nutrients present in the raw milk. What is left behind is nothing more than a ‘dead beverage’ with a high amount of pesticides and other dangerous chemicals in it.

Pasteurization also changes the casein so that it combines with and immobilizes any calcium it comes in contact with. Therefore the casein binds the calcium in milk so the human body does not absorb it. There goes the notion that you are getting your calcium when you drink your milk. Better sources of calcium are green vegetables, sea vegetables (particularly Hijiki which contains 1400 mg calcium per l cup), fish, organic nuts, goat’s milk or cheese, molasses, grains, fruit and kefir. If you’re really concerned about calcium intake, use a high quality calcium/magnesium supplement like Shaklee’s Cal/Mag which has been tested for good absorption.

In addition, pesticide residues with estrogenic properties are consumed in the food that is given to these animals and are subsequently concentrated in the milk. These harmful estrogens are then deposited in our fatty tissues and on estrogen and progesterone cell receptor sites, where they are known to interfere in the proper utilization and production of progesterone and estrogen.

Other issues with milk are that it is very difficult for humans to digest cow milk protein. Cow milk is produced for a calf, not a human. Calves double their weight in 47 days and grow to 300 pounds or more within a year. Cow milk contains protein molecules that are much larger than the protein in human milk and three times the amount of human milk. This shows up dramatically in children. Since the intestines are still forming, these large molecules poke holes in the wall of the intestine leading to what is referred to as “leaky gut” which leads to allergies.

Many people develop lactose intolerance, which is the inability to digest the milk sugar lactose. This is a result of the fact that after the age of four, their bodies stop producing the enzyme lactase, which is necessary to digest the lactose.

Cow’s milk and other dairy products are high in fat. The dairy industry has cleverly expressed fat content as a percentage of weight. Using this system, 2% milk, which is 87% water by weight, sounds like a low-fat product. Expressed as a percentage of total calories, 2% milk is in fact 35% fat. 1% is 23% fat. Whole milk is 49% fat. Yogurt is 49% fat, cheese is 40-77% fat and butter is 100% fat.

So the bottom line with milk consumption, is that we need to think whole food again. It is time for us to stop supporting the food business, which is not supporting our health. I believe that the diseases we are experiencing from consuming denatured products are a wakeup call. Personally, I will continue to avoid denatured products dairy or otherwise, and support products from New Zealand and whole foods. I encourage you to do the same. It is time for us to embrace and live in harmony with nature once again.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

To your good health!

Charlene

With the New Year upon us,  here is a list of things to do to make 2011 great!

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. Make time to practice meditation and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

4. When you wake up in the morning, complete the following statement, “My purpose is to___________ today.”

5. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Dream more while you are awake.

8. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.

9. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat fewer foods that are manufactured in plants.

10. Drink plenty of water. Eat more fruit, vegetables, nuts & seeds.

11. What other people think of you is none of your business.

12. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

13. Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.  Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

14. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.

16. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

17. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

18. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

19. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

20. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

21. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”

22. Watch more movies, play more games and read more books than you did in 2010.

23. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

24. Burn the beautiful candles, use the nice sheets, and wear the fancy clothes.  Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

25. Forgive everyone everything.

26. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

27. Have an attitude of gratitude.

28. Stay in touch with your friends and family.

29. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

30. Stay in the present moment!

31. The best is yet to come.

32. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: “I am thankful for __________.” Today I accomplished _________.

33. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

34. Enjoy the ride.

35. Life is precious.

I’m sure there are many more, but this is a great list to start with. The bottom line is that we need more interior time than what our busy schedules allow. More reflection time. The interesting thing is when we take it, life is much more enjoyable.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Happy New Year!

Charlene

What is environment?

We generally think of the environment as being outside of ourselves. But just think about it for a moment. If we look at our planet from outer space and see the globe, we are part of that picture. Yes, we are too small to be seen by the physical eye but we are in that picture. So technically we are part of the environment not separate from it.

Our environment consists of land and water. There are many creatures both in the water and on the land. All connected in what we call the web of life. In this environment, the human creatures grow food from the land and drink the water that is potable.

What is food?

Food starts from a seed and that seed grows in the soil and we humans eat various parts of the end result, either the root or the above ground part. Humans also kill animals and fish for food as well. There is a whole cycle of life involved here.

Have you ever marveled at the miracle of the seed? Inside the seed is an imprint of a plant along with the initial nutrients needed to get the seedling stage. The seeds need some good soil, the right temperature, oxygen, water and sun in order to germinate. Each seed produces a life form with its own circulatory system and roots for assimilation of soil nutrients. Each seed knows every possible detail of the plant or tree it is to become. All that information is wrapped up in a tiny seed. Isn’t that amazing?

When we grow our food or we buy it from stores (who buy the food from food producers through a whole distribution channel), we get the results of the seed interacting with the environment. When we grow the food ourselves, we are in control of the kind of soil we use, the fertilizers and the growing conditions like where we place the seed.  We can choose not to spray any pesticides or herbicides and have everything organically grown. When we purchase from a store we have to be more careful of our choices. There is some organic produce available but it may take some extra effort to find it.

As the plants grow, they take in water and mineral elements from the soil through the root system. They absorb carbon dioxide from the air and through the action of light, directed by chlorophyll, liberate oxygen into the environment. This process is called photosynthesis and the chlorophyll makes more simple substances such as sugars, starch, cellulose, acids, lignin, tannins, amino acids, etc.  The living material of the plant is called protoplasm. Many plants have their own unique substances formed exclusive to that plant. So really plants are energy converters. This is truly a miracle when you think about it.

There are minerals in good rich soils that we can’t absorb until the plant takes them in through the root system and converts them through this whole process of photosynthesis. The energy in the earth comes through the plants and after we eat and absorb these plants, we get the kind of energy we need.

Energy vibrates.

Everything vibrates at different frequencies. Let’s think about what we are putting into our bodies.  Remember we are not only physical; we are also vibrating mentally, emotionally and spiritually. So when we nourish our bodies, we are nourishing all aspects of us. Every meal gives us a chance to energize physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

All the plants and all our food vibrate. If our food has been treated in any way, that changes the vibration.  There are too many factors that change the vibration to list, but bottom line, the more fake a food is, the more the vibration has been changed.

The vibration we are looking for is the one that keeps our energy high. So the more alive and untreated the food is, the more it will nourish us on all levels. So going back to we are the environment, what we do to our food, we do ourselves. What we do to our water, we do to ourselves. Everything is connected.

Our planet is in a state of disarray presently. I believe we are getting signals to remind us to go back to nature and everything natural. I hope that this blog made some connections for you. A gentle reminder to be more aware of what we are putting into our mouth if our desire is to be healthy.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Stay tuned for more on the vibrational effects of food.

Charlene

One Food That Can Save the Day

We are faced with numerous environmental challenges these days. This one is particularly dangerous and I wanted to inform you where you are being exposed to these chemicals and the effects it is having to our future generations.

The word “xenoestrogens” means foreign estrogens. They are man-made environmental chemicals, which are taken up by the estrogen receptor sites in the body and seriously interfere with natural biochemical changes.  These estrogen-like mimics have an uncanny ability to mimic natural estrogen and/or block natural hormones. They have distinct effects in different species and organs. Xenoestrogens are fat-soluble, not biodegradable or well excreted, and accumulate in fat tissue of animals and humans.  They are also dangerously toxic. The principle function of estrogens is to cause cellular proliferation and growth of tissues of the sexual organs and other tissues related to reproduction. So the union of hormone mimics to receptors, triggers genes that stimulate the production of proteins that accelerate cell division. This cell division is leading to a host of health challenges.

Mounting research is now revealing an alarming situation worldwide created by the inundation of these hormone-mimics. In the book, Our Stolen Future, authors Colburn, Dumanoski, and Meyers have identified 51 families of hormone mimics each able to unleash a torrent of effects such as reduced sperm production, cell division and sculpting of the developing brain. These mimics are not only linked to the recent discovery that human sperm counts worldwide have plunged by 50 per cent between 1938 and 1990 but also to altered sexual behaviour, lowered immunity, increased genital deformities, breast, ovarian, uterine, prostate and testicular cancer, and interfered with behavioral and neurological development.

For women, fibrocystic breast disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, uterine fibroids and pelvic inflammatory diseases are also suspected. These may be influenced by developmental or chronic lifetime exposure to estrogen mimics.

These estrogenic chemicals are everywhere: in the air, water, food, soil, and over-abundantly in our bodies. These chemicals are mostly from the petrochemical industry and unfortunately for our health, petrochemicals are everywhere. Our machines run on petrochemicals such as gasoline and kerosene. Organochlorines are produced by chlorine gas reacting with petroleum hydrocarbons. Today there are organochlorines being used in plastics, pesticides, solvents, dry cleaning agents, refrigerants and other chemicals. Thousands more are by-products of the disinfection of water, bleaching of paper and incineration of chlorinated products.  Millions of products, including various plastics (polycarbonated plastics found in babies bottles, toys, food containers and water jugs), PCBs, microchips, medicines, even our synthetic vitamins, clothing, foods, household cleansers, air deodorizers, personal care products (such as cosmetics, antiperspirants, soaps, toothpaste and mouthwash), pesticides and herbicides (such as DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor, etc.) and perfumes, either contain or are made from petrochemicals.

Some proven environmental estrogens used as pesticides, most notably DDT, toxaphene and dicofol, have been banned in most western industrial countries but are still used in many developing nations. Averages of over 25% of all regular Canadian and imported produce show residues of pesticides. In just one example, California raisin and strawberry growers and Washington State apple growers are permitted to use DDT-laced pesticide dicofol on food crops.

Drinking water may be contaminated by other proven estrogenic compounds  (nonylphenol (NP), endosulfan) still being used in plastics manufacturing and pesticides.  NP from our liquid laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaners, soaps and shampoos also taint our water.  Airborne ash from industry or hazardous waste incinerators is often high in hormone disrupters like dioxin (one of the most virulent) as well as lead, mercury, and cadmium. The ash lands on grass or hay eaten by livestock and then is passed along, concentrated, to humans.

Our food is one of the most common pathways for these hormone-disrupting chemicals to gain entry. Processed foods now comprise 80% of our food supply. Packaging, excess sugar and hydrogenated fats, preservatives, artificial colour and flavourings may all be hazardous.  For example, Red Dye No. 3, a powerful carcinogen, is still widely used. Plastic containers, styrene cups, food packaging or can liners may contain PVCs (polyvinyl chlorides), alkylphenols, nonylphenols, bisphenol-a and phthalates. These are known xenoestrogens that migrate into food when heated or stored for long periods.

Food animals and dairy fat are a major source of hormonally active chemicals in our food and waterways. The highest concentrations are in beef and dairy products, with high residues of DDT and other chlorinated pesticides, antibiotics, veterinary drugs and growth-stimulating sex hormones. Fish from industrialized waterways are contaminated with a wide range of xenoestrogens. All Great Lakes salmon show enlarged thyroid glands in recent years.

Taking it one step further, synthetic estrogens are also being dumped into the waterways through the urine of women and enter our food chain. This has also increased our levels of estrogen exposure.

So we see xenoestrogens are everywhere and that we are being bombarded with them. Many women are considered “estrogen dominate” because of our over exposure to these foreign estrogens.  Because this is a big topic, I will deal with this subject next week. What I want to cover this week is that there is a safe alternative that can actually protect us from this over exposure.

Plant estrogens, called phytoestrogens, compete with natural and xenoestrogens for binding to receptors in the body. The phytoestrogens protect us from the toxic, synthetic petrochemical estrogenic compounds. They act as weak estrogens and appear to produce estrogen effects in postmenopausal women and anti-estrogen effects in premenopausal women.  Phytoestrogens thus have this ability to act as “balancers” – by raising low levels of estrogen and by lowering high levels by replacing a strong estrogen with a weaker one.

Significant amounts of phytoestrogens are found in many foods including soy products, flaxseeds, chickpeas, cashews, oats, corn, apples, and almonds.  One of the best sources of phytoestrogens is called isoflavones found in soy.  By eating these foods on a daily basis, we can protect the cell receptor sites from the xenoestrogens. This is an important awareness as most people do not know the benefits of these foods. Phytoestrogens are therefore the “good guys” and can counteract the bad effects of the “bad guys”. So do yourself a favour and protect your cell receptor sites on a daily basis.

Every morning I take my water washed soy protein powder and mix it with water. After I drink it, I know that I have protected my cell receptor sites for the day. I highly recommend that you do the same for increased health and wellness. Feel free to contact me for more information on the difference in the brands of soy protein powder.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Next week I will cover the different types of estrogens and estrogen dominance.

Stay tuned.

Charlene Day

This month in honour of Mother’s Day, I addressed some women’s health issues. In this last post on this theme, we will be addressing deficiencies that produce  menopausal problems and osteoporosis.

Menopause

Menopause can happen either naturally or through surgery. Technically, menopause happens after the ovaries have ceased to function for over a year. Before that it is termed peri-menopause.  Many women experience symptoms of hot flashes, sweating, mood swings, headaches, higher risk of heart disease, breast cancer and osteoporosis during this time.

In the past women have traditionally gone to doctors to get hormone replacement therapy (HRT). While proclaimed as the primary missing ingredient for the menopausal woman, estrogen also has been strongly recommended by the medical and pharmaceutical industries for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. However, in 1998 the results of the second largest study on HRT were published, indicating that HRT increases the risk of heart disease, as well as breast cancer, osteoporosis and gall bladder disease.

In light of this recent scientific research, women began looking for natural alternatives. Along with a healthy diet, and lifestyle, consuming the right supplements and herbs will help regulate the normal hormone fluctuation that occurs during menopause.

A healthy diet eliminates red meat, processed meat, organ meats, skin of fowl, fried foods, high-fat dairy products, alcohol, refined sugar, spicy food and salt. Instead the concentration is on an alkaline diet – fowl with skin removed, sea fish at least three times a week (good for iodine), lots of vegetables and fruit, beans and lentils, whole grains and raw nuts and lots of clean water. This will help to bring about a pH body balance for normalized hormones.

The supplements for menopause always start with a good balanced multi-vitamin/mineral supplement. Vitamin E with selenium has a normalizing effect on estrogen levels. If you have chlorinated drinking water, you need more vitamin E. Vitamin E is good for hot flashes, breast tenderness, muscle cramps and vaginal dryness. Vitamin C with bioflavonoids helps to diminish hot flashes and night sweats. It also helps prevent osteoporosis. B complex is important to help your body deal with stress, and replenish the adrenals. B vitamins help depression and have a calming effect. B complex is good to counteract fatigue, irritability, craving for sweets, fluid retention, and headaches.

Calcium/Magnesium is very important to maintain your balance through menopause. It is helpful for headaches, insomnia, when anxious or tense, osteoporosis or to curb cravings for chocolate. GLA an essential fatty acid, is a hormone balancer and helps with hot flashes. It also aids headaches and any inflammation in the body. Omegas are also good for hormone balancing and stabilizing mood changes. Beta-Carotene promotes healthy mucous membranes in the vaginal area. Zinc activates over 80 liver enzymes and helps boost energy.

One major deficiency that is often overlooked with menopausal symptoms is what is called a plant estrogen or phytoestrogen. Phytoestrogens are the plant versions of the human hormone estrogen. The best-researched phytoestrogens are isoflavones, which are found in soy.

Isoflavones are plant substances, which can act as estrogens in the body and have protective functions. Isoflavones can compete with estrogen for the same receptor sites thereby decreasing the health risks of excess estrogen. They can also increase the estrogen activity. If during menopause the body’s natural level of estrogen drops, isoflavones can compensate this by binding to the same receptor, thereby easing menopause symptoms such as hot flashes as a result.

The best way to consume isoflavones is in the form of soy. Soy contains many types of isoflavones, but the most beneficial are genistein and daidzein. Genistein improves bone strength & density. Daidzein prevents bone loss. Isoflavones can also reduce the risk of breast, bowel, and lung cancer.

Not all soy foods contain soy isoflavones: When crushed, defatted soy flakes are washed in alcohol during the production of soy burgers, soy cheeses, soy milks, and some soy powder mixes, isoflavones are destroyed. If soy protein powders are produced by water-washing the soy-flakes, a much higher isoflavone level is retained. So not only is this a way to ingest high quality amino acids, it also provides the isoflavones needed to decrease menopausal symptoms.

Plant estrogens are also found in herbs. Black Cohosh and Raspberry are phytoestrogens, which helps regulate the luteinizing hormone which fluctuates during menopause. It helps regulate & relieve hot flashes, has a calming effect on the nervous system and helps regulate sleep patterns.

Flaxseed is the richest whole grain source of a class of phytoestrogens called lignans. It reduces cholesterol levels and helps to normalize blood pressure. It shows anti-tumor activity and inhibits cancer growth. It increases metabolism and boosts the immune system.

Dong Quai (also known as angelica) is a phytoestrogen that helps bring relief from hot flashes, relieves vaginal dryness, and traditionally was used as a uterine tonic. Red Clover contains phytoestrogens similar to soy and helps detoxify the liver (a healthy liver is essential for hormonal balance). It also enhances the immune system. Licorice is a source of phytoestrogens. It promotes adrenal function (as you found out earlier, the adrenal glands are the key glands responsible for producing estrogen after menopause).

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a gradual decrease in bone mass and density that can begin as early as the teen years. Bone mass should be at its peak in our late 20s or early 30s, but thanks to a poor diet and lack of exercise, many women are already losing bone in their 20s. Bone loss occurs more rapidly in women than in men, especially right around the time of menopause, when an abrupt drop in estrogen and progesterone can accelerates bone loss.

The most important elements of bones are minerals and amino acids. The most important bone minerals are calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous and fluoride. Equally important is the balance between the minerals. Too much phosphorous or fluoride will create poor bone structure. (Nearly all of us already ingest too much fluoride, thanks to fluoridation of our water.) Without enough magnesium, the calcium can’t be absorbed onto the bone. Vitamins are also involved. For example, vitamin B6 (in B complex) works with magnesium to get calcium onto your bones.

The hormones testosterone, estrogen and progesterone are also actively involved in the making and unmaking of bone. Testosterone and progesterone build bone, while estrogen appears to indirectly slow bone loss. All of these are made from amino acids, the building blocks of all cells.

In osteoporosis, the old bone is being reabsorbed faster than new bone is being made, causing the bones to lose density and become thinner and more porous and fragile. Bone loss seems to be most severe in the spine, wrists and hips. Unfortunately there are usually no signs or symptoms of osteoporosis until a fracture occurs.

To prevent osteoporosis, it is important to reduce or eliminate soda pop and other carbonated beverages, as well as salt, sugar and caffeine consumption, keep meat consumption to a reasonable level (no more than once a day) and decrease alcohol consumption and don’t smoke. Avoid over the counter medications such as antacids and laxatives and avoid severe caloric restriction and yo-yo dieting.

Eat plenty of fresh, green vegetables and whole grains and nuts and seeds. Eating foods high in flavonoids, which help stabilize collagen structures, such as blueberries, raspberries and hawthorn berries are excellent to prevent bone loss. Following all the advice for the menopausal symptoms, will help prevent osteoporosis as well.

Digestive enzymes may be required to optimize digestion for maximum nutrient absorption. It is very important to ensure adequate absorption and the proper utilization of calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin D. Vitamin C, B complex, Beta-Carotene, and trace minerals are also needed. Since more vegetable protein is better for maintaining the alkaline balance needed to prevent bone loss, water washed soy protein powder is also important in preventing osteoporosis.

Engage in an active lifestyle that includes both weight bearing and strength training exercise. Exercise is an anti-depressant, stress reliever, fat burner, and bone stimulator.

To sum up, preventing menopause symptoms and osteoporosis requires a balanced lifestyle to support your hormones. Learn stress management techniques, and take time out for relaxation, massage, yoga, meditation and inner growth. Take time for yourself. I know this is hard for women to hear but don’t take on too much.  Laugh, love, relax, and feed yourself with positive thoughts.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Next week I will cover the dangers of environmental xenoestrogens.

Stay tuned.

Charlene Day

Charlene Day on Women’s Health Issues

In honour of Mother’s Day month, I am continuing to address women’s health issues.  These are issues affecting physical aspects of healing, but that have a profound effect on our mental, emotional and spiritual fields as well.  When we are in the flow of good energy physically, then it is easier to be in harmony on all levels.

Our bodies consists of trillions of cells that need vitamins, minerals, essential fats, carbohydrates and proteins (amino acids) to stay healthy.  Optimum levels of health require optimum nutrition and equally optimum cell performance.

Birth Control

Deficiencies produce problems and some women use birth control pills which cause nutritional deficiencies. Oral contraceptives cause many metabolic changes and more seriously, the hormones present in contraceptive pills have been shown to increase the risk of coagulation, increasing the risk of blood clots and pulmonary embolisms. This risk is especially heightened in women who smoke and who are over the age of 30, as both conditions also can predispose towards coagulation.

So women in this category absolutely need to supplement to counter the insufficiency of nutrients within the body. These women need a whole food multi vitamin and mineral supplement and extra zinc, B complex, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, calcium-magnesium and Beta Carotene as the birth control pill intake depletes these nutrients.

Pregnancy

On the other hand for those women who want to get pregnant, there are other nutritional needs. Start with preconception care by cleaning up the diet and avoiding toxins.  Take a multi vitamin that contains at least 400 mg of folic acid to prevent neural tube defects thus preventing spina bifida, a very serious birth defect.

I have helped many women who could not get pregnant simply by adding in some whole food supplements and presto they conceived. What I suggested is very simply what the body needs. Our cells have daily requirements of vitamins, minerals, essential fats, carbohydrates and proteins (amino acids).

When we want to make another human being, it makes sense that both partners supplement a healthy diet with whole food supplements. If we want to produce a healthy baby then we need healthy raw elements.

Once a woman conceives, then it is important to make sure there is a daily intake of amino acids as our need for high quality protein goes up from 44 to 74 grams per day. A whole food multi vitamin is essential during this time. Calcium/magnesium is needed as the calcium need increases up to 1200 mg. plus. Iron needs go from 18 mg to 60 mg and B complex is needed for the general wellbeing of the mother and proper nerve development of the fetus. B complex is also vitally important to help prevent birth defects. Also it is helpful in the first trimester to help alleviate morning sickness.

Vit D, magnesium and zinc help with the hormone receptor sites which are important during pregnancy as levels of progesterone and estrogens rise continually throughout pregnancy as do the adrenal hormones. There are certain nutrients like calcium/magnesium and electrolytes that aid in childbirth comfort too.

At least 300 mg of Omega fatty acids are especially important in last trimester. Omegas are a major structural fatty acid in the brain and retina, and are naturally found in breast milk. It is important for a mother to consume adequate amounts of essential fats during pregnancy and while nursing to support her well-being and the health of her infant. Avoid certain fish as it is often very high in heavy metal contaminants. Supplement with a high quality fish supplement that is triple distilled.

A balanced, nutritious diet is an important aspect of a healthy pregnancy as you are eating for two. Eating a healthy diet, balancing carbohydrates (a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains), essential fats, high quality protein and your whole food supplements usually ensures good nutrition. To counteract constipation make sure you eat plenty of fiber, get regular exercise, eat healthy foods especially veggies, and drink lots of purified water.

Nutritional Needs During Lactation

A nursing mother’s diet can have a profound effect on her baby. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is that whatever you eat, your baby eats, too. Healthy nutrients and contaminants alike pass from breast milk to baby.

Calorie and protein needs continue to be high during lactation, as they were in pregnancy. The breastfeeding mother requires an extra 300 to 400 calories above her pre–pregnancy needs for the first 12 months of breastfeeding.

Fortunately, eating well and fulfilling the needs of your newborn child are really quite easy. The healthiest diets derive their nutrients from these sources: vegetables, fruit, legumes (beans, peas, or lentils), whole grains, and nuts and seeds. A diet built entirely from these foods has the added advantage of reducing levels of environmental contaminants in breast milk. Plant foods have much lower levels of contaminants than foods from animal sources and are even cleaner when they are grown organically.

Studies show that women who consume meat and dairy products have higher levels of chemical contaminants in their breast milk, probably because these chemicals tend to concentrate in animal tissues. Fish is often very high in contaminants. It commonly contains mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and other organochlorine pesticides, which can pass through breast milk to nursing babies.

Dairy products, including cow’s milk, raise another issue.  Cow’s milk proteins ingested by the mother can also enter her breast milk. These proteins can cause colic, as well as contribute to allergic reactions and a whole host of other problems in babies as their tiny systems cannot handle the large molecules of milk protein.

Many of the supplement needs during lactation are similar to those of pregnancy. Since babies will take a substantial amount of calcium from breast milk, it is essential for nursing mothers to supplement with calcium/magnesium. Also important are a whole food multi vitamin/mineral, amino acids, Beta Carotene, B complex, Vitamins C, E, D and the Omegas.

Whatever you take, the child will benefit from. So remember to take care of yourself as you are the well of nutrients that builds a healthy baby.

Do you have a story to share? I’d love to get your feedback.  Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv.  That’s great for all bloggers out there. If you leave a comment, you can provide a link back to your own blog.  But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment; I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Next week I will cover some more feminine issues for later on in life.

Stay tuned.

Charlene