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Is the pertussis vaccine causing the recent outbreaks?

 Leslie Manookian writes about whooping cough for Nourishing Our Children. In recent years the United States has experienced pertussis (whooping cough) outbreaks and epidemics in states across the nation. While the official advice of government, health care workers, and vaccine makers has been a resounding, “go get vaccinated or re-vaccinated”, is that really the best course of action for now and the future? To answer the question of whether pertussis vaccines were ever the best course of action, it is useful to examine their history. The whole-cell pertussis vaccine was declared effective in 1939. (Interestingly, autism was first documented in 1943.1) The whole cell pertussis vaccine was combined with diphtheria…

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Depression During Pregnancy and Postpartum

 Before you decide that this topic isn’t relevant to you, read this: “Oh, but you’re not depressed? Every woman should read this book. Every pregnant woman will wish she had.”  – Nina Plank, author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why Guest Author – Amanda Rose, Ph.D. Research continues to tie the declining health of Americans to our poor diet choices. With too much sugar and too much unhealthy fats, we bulge, our hearts give out, and our brains begin to “go crazy”. Something as simple as a trans-fat-laden French fry may cause depression claims a group of Spanish researchers. Indeed, you are more likely to be depressed if…

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The Art of Healing – Extreme Health Bundle

 53 digital products – ebooks and videos valued at over 800.00, offered for less than 40.00 Product Categories: (1) Relieve Common Conditions, (2) Plant Remedies: Herbs, Oils and Trees, (3) Natural Living, (4) Nutrition Tools, (5) Fermentation, 6) Gluten-Free, (7) Diet inspired by the research of Weston A Price, (8) White Papers, and (9) Folic Acid Metabolism Learn more and order now – the promotion ends on March 7, 2013 at midnight PST. One of items offered is our very own ebook on “Timeless Principles for Supporting Learning Behavior and Health Through Optimal Nutrition”.  The entire bundle includes: Products related to families and children highlighted 100 Days of Real Food Challenge by…

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Is it worth the effort to make homemade household cleaners?

 Matt and Betsy Jabs, authors of DIY Natural Household Cleaners, would answer with a resounding “Yes!” They are offering our community 20% off of their ebook, which means it is less than 8.00 for their 60+ recipes.  Use coupon code “nourish”.  The offer expires February 28, 2013. They highlight the following benefits: You will reduce toxic chemicals in your home.  They were tired of all the toxic chemicals in store bought cleaners so they did something about it! All the recipes in their book use non-toxic, natural ingredients such as baking soda, white vinegar, washing soda, borax, salt, hydrogen peroxide 3%, lemon juice, liquid castile soap, citric acid and essential…

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Nourish the whole child with finger painting!

 Therapeutic As a former art therapist and learning specialist, I often utilized finger painting in my practice. Finger painting is an age-old activity that fosters children’s creativity as it captivates their interest. Kerry Greasley explains, “Finger painting has existed for centuries, but was established in its modern form in the 1930s by Ruth Faison Shaw. She was one of the first to recognise its therapeutic potential and was hailed as “a pioneer in progressive education”. At a time when many thought children should be seen and not heard, she saw finger painting as an important way for children to communicate their unexpressed words and feelings. The instinctive nature of finger painting,…

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Disposables, Cloth or … Elimination Communication?!

  Diaper Choices 1. Disposables Here is a bit of history as outlined by Emily Bazelon in her article Diaper Genie: “Until the 19th century, American mothers wrapped their babies in swaddling. Then they began putting infants in some version of cloth diapers or pads, giving their wearers a greater range of movement and ensuring they didn’t have to be held all the time. Pampers began marketing the first disposable diaper in 1961. The early versions were leaky, bulky, and generally inferior to cloth diapers. (In the 1970s, my mother scorned them.) But when the technology improved, thanks to those polymer pellets—which allow today’s diapers to absorb up to 500 milliliters of…

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Beautiful Babies

 Beautiful Babies: Nutrition for Fertility, Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, and Baby’s First Foods I am very excited to recommend another resource of interest to our community.  Kristen Michaelis of Food Renegade created a self-guided online course, followed by a book, which I’ve decided to highly recommend via our Amazon affiliation. My review of both the course and the book: As a former teacher and learning specialist, I found that the course to be extremely well-organized and fairly comprehensive. I am the kind who learns best with structure and clarity. Each lesson has a section for goals, workbook, reading, video, “bringing it home” assignment, and “further up and further in” opportunities. Following each lesson is…

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A new Nourishing Traditions book focused on babies and children

 I was delighted to discover that I was the first person to post a review on  Amazon for Sally Fallon Morell and Dr. Thomas Cowan’s book: The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care “I think this is a invaluable addition to Nourishing Traditions and The FourFold Path to Healing. I have awaited a comprehensive resource like this for some time. I have a sense that this book is an “all in one”. It not only teaches us how to nourish ourselves and our children, it covers strategies on how to heal our children from many childhood illnesses as well. What a gift to have several chapters of expert…

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How pure are “organic” self care products?

 Even toothpastes, cleansers, shampoos and deodorants labeled as “natural” and “organic” have ingredients that would behoove us to avoid.  For example, consider basic baby powder. Talcum powder, which is a common component of commercial baby powders, is sometimes contaminated with asbestos. Though the options sold in health food stores are usually much safer, most contain cornstarch. In cases where the rash is due to an overgrowth of yeast (such as when it coincides with thrush), cornstarch will actually feed the yeast and make the rash worse. So what is the alternative? Do it yourself! I am so, so excited about Heather Dessinger’s DYI Organic Beauty Recipes ebook!  It includes 50+ all natural,…

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