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What's Eating Your Child? PDF Print E-mail
Book Reviews
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
What’s Eating Your Child?  The Hidden Connections Between Food and Childhood Ailments: Anxiety, Recurrent Ear Infections, Stomachaches, Picky Eating, Rashes, ADHD, and More.  And What Every Parent Can Do About It. By Kelly Dorfman, MS, LND.

Once again I had my belief that All Food is Medicine confirmed.  I found What's Eating Your Child? enormously helpful to my adult patients in addition to the children at which it is aimed.  Dorfman tells stories and then backs her conclusions up with research.  It is easy to read.  

She outlines clearly how to go about starting to discover what the problem is, and how to fix it.  Her information is logical, practical, and based on research.  She talks about how change is hard and suggests that you...”don’t have anything in the house you do not want your child [or you] to eat.”

I would recommend this book as a starting place to solving the mystery of symptoms that you have been told to “just live with”, or “they’ll outgrow it”.

Charli Vogt, RN, MN, MPH
404-377-1257

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Wise Speech PDF Print E-mail
Thoughts
Friday, 15 April 2011
Every day we are faced with our own inadequate speech that sometimes hurts ourselves and the people around us.  Nonviolent Communication as taught by Marshall Rosenberg is one framework to use to craft a wiser way of speaking.  The first step in this process is to reconize when our observations of something are being colored by our evaluation/judgment of that same thing.  It's an interesting process to separate these two things out from each other.

Some of us remember the old TV series Dragnet where Joe Friday, the detective used to say, "just the facts, Mam, just the facts", when someone was telling him the whole story.  That's a good reminder for parsing out the facts from the evaluations.

I'm not suggesting that you stop evaluation, but simply be aware of when it is coloring your observations.  It will totally change how you relate to other people.  Here is a list of things to think about as you separate out your opinions from the "facts". 
1.  Use of the verb "to be" often means you are evaluating.  Ex: "You ARE too generous."
2.  Use of verbs with evaluative connotations.  Ex: " Doug procrastinates."
3.  Implying your thoughts, feelings intentions or desires are the ONLY ones.  EX:  "If you don't eat balanced meals, your health will be imparied."
4.  Failure to be specific about referents.  EX:  "Minorities don't take care of their property."
5.  Use of words denoting ability without indicating that an evaluation is being made.  EX:  "Hank Smith is a poor soccer player."
6.  Use of adverbs and adjectives in ways that do not signify an evaluation has been made.  EX:  "Jim is ugly."
7.  Use of Exaggerations.  EX:  "You are always busy". " She is never there when she's needed."  Avoid the use of the words, frequently seldom, always, never.  This list is taken from the book, Nonviolent Communicatin:  A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D.

This is simply something to think about.  Consider the possibility that you can create more connection by being aware of your thinking and your speech.
Enjoy.... just play with it!
Charli

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Last Updated ( Friday, 15 April 2011 )
 
Berry Betterment Codial PDF Print E-mail
Herbal Healing
Friday, 25 June 2010

Last night I taught a class at Oakhurst Community Garden about "making your own medicine".  This is one of the medicines that we tasted.  Remember, all food is medicine.

 

Berry Betterment Cordial (AKA Elixir)

1 C. bilberries (or blue berries)

1 C. elderberries

You can also use berry concentrate (unsweetened).  Dark cherry is really good.

2 quarts water

Put berries into a sauce pan with the water.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until the water is reduced by half.  Strain through a tightly woven sieve so that you can mash the berries, extracting the pulp without skins or seeds.  Discard the herbs…. keep the liquid.

Mix in 1/2 c.  honey while the juice is still warm.  Add any concentrated juice that you may want to use. You can do this at this point or previously when you are cooking the berries.

Brandy:  Add 1 C. per one quart of juice.  This will allow you to keep it indefinitely without refrigeration.

I added Hawthorne berries (Crataegus laevigata) to the mixture after it was completed and let it sit another 6 weeks.  You could also tincture the Hawthorne berries ahead of time and add the tincture to the juice in place of part of the brandy.  Enjoy!  This would be served after dinner… about 1/8 c. each day.  This mixture supports heart health.

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 July 2010 )
 
Bites and Stings PDF Print E-mail
Herbal Healing
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Helpful Hint:
Here are some home remedies for bites and stings.
1.  Plantain that grows in most gardens can be chewed up and plastered onto a bug bite to take the sting out. 
2.  The sting can be taken out of bee stings with moistened baking soda. 
3.  Wasp & yellow jacket stings are helped by applying vinegar.
Good luck during the summer months.

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What can I do? PDF Print E-mail
Thoughts
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
     These days I’m feeling a little helpless about the big oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  What can I do to help?  As I thought about it, I realized that every little thing that I do to decrease the dependence on fossil fuels would help. Here are some things that I am doing.
    Buying as much locally grown food and products as possible.  I'm asking the grocery stores to tell me where the food is grown that I am buying.  As more and more of us ask them, they will have to respond to the consumers.  By buying food grown closer to us we cut down on the miles that it has to be brought and the gas that is used to bring it.  Because it doesn’t travel so far, it tastes better.... it can be picked riper.  Do you know that in Atlanta there are many organic farmer's markets?  There are two, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday, in our little town of Decatur.  Explore where you live to see if you can find food that is grown close to home.
     I walk or ride my bike whenever I can.  Our town is a totally friendly town as far as walking is concerned and becoming more and more friendly to cyclists.
    I take reusable bags into the store.  I keep them on the seat next to me so that I see them when I get out of the car.  I keep accumulating more reusable bags, so, I’ve decided that I’m going to carry extra ones into the store, sometimes, to give to someone who doesn’t have one with them.  I have seen the statistics about how much oil it saves to not use plastic bags and it’s astounding.  Between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.
    Cut down on plastic bottles for water.  I take my own reusable bottle, either safe plastic or metal.  There are all kinds to choose from... some of them very fashionable.  This website is one place that you can explore alternatives.  http://www.reusablebags.com/
    I help my health as well as the environment by taking my lunch or picnics in reusable containers.  My daughter has gone so far as to take a reusable container to the restaurant to take home left overs... now, we’re not all going to be that good, but, I hadn’t thought of it before she did it.  You can carry your own silver wear and cloth napkins to use in place of disposables.  Sometimes it’s a little cumbersome, but, things are getting more fun all the time.  I would love to hear back from you what you have tried.  
    It might not seem like much, but, when millions of us change the way we do things it will make big changes. 
     Come and learn how to cook more at home and do things to take good care of you and your family.  I'm teaching classes this summer.  Check out the list on this site.  Be well and take good care of yourselves.

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 June 2010 )
 
Fermented lemons PDF Print E-mail
Recipes
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Fermentation is a way of preserving food that is older than almost all others.  These fermented lemons are used as an accompainment to baked chicken in Morrocco.
Wash lemons.  This is one time that it is important to buy organic lemons.
Slice lemon into wedges about 1/4 inch across, or flat rounds. 
Place in jar (I use a pint jar with a screw lid), pressing down as you add each slice. 
Sprinkle with 1 t salt after each lemon.
Use as many lemons as you need to fill your jar to within 2 inches of top.  Squeeze the juice from one additional lemon over all.  There should be enough juice when you push down the lemons to cover the top lemon.  Place a weight (small bottle with water in it) on the top so that lemons remain under the brine.  Cover with cheese cloth or light cloth so that bugs don't fly into the jar.
Leave on counter top for about 1 week.  Refrigerate and use over the next month or so.  They are great cut up into salad, or served with chicken or fish.  You eat the rind as well as the rest of the lemon.
All fermented food gives your body extra enzymes to digest other food.  ENJOY!!

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 12 May 2010 )
 
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