Vaccinations

I have seen this topic spring up several times in the last few weeks. The feeling I get is that most people who choose to vaccinate cannot fathom why you would choose not to?! Why would you risk contracting a potentially deadly virus if you can prevent it? So I thought I'd give my opinion on the matter as best I can in a nutshell. I personally have two children who are partially vaccinated, and one that I chose to not vaccinate at all... so far. This is not a decision that I've taken lightly, nor is it a decision I made overnight or based on a single article or opinion. This decision came from an accumulation of ideas and connections I have made over the last five years.  This is why I rarely debate or try to convince people why I am against the current vaccination schedule, because it's near impossible to explain 5 years to someone in one conversation and if you want hard evidence, I can't exactly site all of my sources. Vaccinations do in fact help prevent the spread of these viruses, there's no disputing that. However some questions to consider are at what costs are we preventing these viruses and is there a better way to prevent them and gain immunity? I am not against vaccinations nor do I think that people who do vaccinate are making a bad decision. However there is information I believe to be true that has made me rethink the decision to impose the rigorous mainstream vaccination schedule on my own children.

1. The standard vaccination age is too young in my opinion. I understand the 0-5 age is a more vulnerable stage of life where their tiny immune systems are not as developed and therefore more susceptible to disease. But that is exactly why I feel they shouldn't be exposed to partially live viruses and artificial additives at that time either! 0-5 is by far the most delicate and fragile stage of development in a human's entire life! Their little bodies are growing and changing so rapidly on a daily basis and all the more vulnerable to a negative reaction.

2. I feel like the ingredients in vaccinations should be explained in detail to parents before a child in injected. I don't think physicians are trying to hide this information on purpose, but if you are injecting my child with any substance through a needle, that would seem like an important routine thing to do. Im sure they have that information available, I just wonder why it is not routinely provided when a vaccination is given? Especially knowing that the majority if not all vaccinations contain preservatives and/or toxic metals.

3. Speaking of negative reactions, the numbers speak for themselves as far as healthy children in this country and adverse reactions are more commonly linked to vaccinations than most people think. Asthma, allergies, frequent "mild" illness (cough, runny nose, fever), autism, vision impairment, deafness, and cancer are some of the conditions you become more susceptible to when you are vaccinated very young. And it is my opinion that vaccinations as well as a diet lacking in nutrients are the main contributors to the dramatic increase of these illnesses in the last 50 years. Autism is a perfect example of this. In the 1940s the number of autistic children was 1 in 10,000, in 2008 it was 1 in 88. Many people will have no side effects whatsoever, more frequently will have the first few I mentioned and even less commonly are the latter. This is because everyone has a different biological makeup and will not respond the same way as someone else.

4. Vaccinations did not act alone in reducing the spread of these viruses. In fact clean water, sanitation, and nutrition awareness around the same time period were MAJOR contributors, and still are.

5. Vaccinations do not provide true immunity, but rather herd immunity. Herd immunity basically means that a weakened version of the disease still exists but without the extreme reactions we used to see before vaccinations. You could very well have measles but you wouldn't know it since your symptoms would be very mild and flu-like. This is why immunized people still get sick when there is an outbreak and also why people need booster vaccinations their entire life. Alternatively if you were to contract a virus and fight it on your own (i.e. no vaccination), you would have actual immunity.

Again, none of these realizations came to me over night, and I've really only scratched the surface here. These ideas have been reiterated to me over and over in the last few years through my own personal health research, as I have strived to increase my understanding of the body and the physical effects that any food or substance has on it. Last week I stumbled onto an article about vaccinations that gives a pretty comprehensive explanation (from an expert) on many of my concerns. To me I don't think you can make a well informed decision until you've looked at what both sides have to say. You can read that article HERE. At the end of the day I know that good parents choose to vaccinate and good parents choose not to vaccinate. I feel fortunate to live in a time and place where information is shared so easily and I have the opportunity to research and decide for myself.

Breakfast Oats

I eat this almost everyday for breakfast. 

Favorite Oatmeal

1/3 Cup Rolled Oats

2 Tbsp Sliced Almonds

1/2 Tbsp Raw Coconut Oil

1/2 Tbsp Honey

couple dashes of Cinnamon

Cook oats according to directions then mix in remaining ingredients.

Simple, clean and yummy!

Juice Cleanse - last day

I did it! Now that its over it felt quick, but I do remember Monday and Tuesday feeling like they would never end. This cleanse was definitely more difficult that the fruit and veg fast where I could eat the whole food. The difference between that and juicing is you are able to get a higher concentrated dose of nutrients. The millions of cells in our body are constantly regenerating and building new ones with the materials that we feed them... FOOD. So a cleanse or detox allows the body to flush out the toxic cells and replace them with healthy cells that are built with nutrients. In addition to the benefits on a cellular level, here are a few other benefits I noticed over the last few days...

• Remembering what hunger feels like. Most days I eat/snack whenever I want without feeling any hunger (aka necessity). Food tastes amazing and is more satisfying when you physically need it! 

• Re-focusing my mind on nutrition and breaking away from some habits I have started to notice worming their way into my diet (like snacking late at night when I really don't need to and and having treat foods everyday). My palate is also more easily satisfied with healthy food since cutting it off from those rich roods.

• I feel much lighter and notice my stomach is definitely flatter and less bloated.

Except for extreme cases where people are treating disease (like cancer and obesity) I don't think a long term juice-only diet is necessary or even that effective. Our bodies were designed to digest the whole food and there is definitely a role that plays in digestion and health. Three days seems to be perfect for what I wanted to accomplish. Gave my body a little rest and recovery, I appreciate food more, and am once again motivated to keep myself on a healthy track. Just in time for Thanksgiving!:/

Juice Cleanse - Day 2

Well I'm at the end of day 2 and have to admit this cleanse is both mentaly and physically harder than I thought it would be! Firstly, juice is just not filling. No matter how much I drink it doesn't seem to quench my hunger! And on top of that I've been fighting the urge to give up. My mind puts up a pretty good fight too with thoughts like "one day is still a great accomplishment" and questions like "is it really worth all the effort?" Another very difficult thing about this cleanse has been continuing to provide food for the rest of my family. I still have to prepare 3 meals a day plus snacks, all of which I cannot eat! To help me stay on track I have been taking advantage of 1 vegetable meal a day as outlined in the Joe Cross cleanse. I really felt like I needed to incorporate this to help me keep going and it has worked. I look forward to that meal and it helps satisfy my hunger a little better so I can sleep at night. Here's what I've had today...

Morning juice - 4 carrots, 2 apples, 1 slice ginger

2 glasses Gazpacho Juice (made the night before, recipe HERE)

2 glasses green juice (kale, cucumber, orange)

Dinner - roasted onion, beets and butternut squash

Juice Cleanse - Day 1

Over the last 6 weeks I have been training really hard for the Desert Grande Triathlon and finally got to compete last saturday. It was a fantastic experience but I am still stiff and sore from competing! I've been on a pretty good exercise streak this entire year so I knew after that event I was going to give myself a little rest. With a break from exercise already on my mind I thought it would be the perfect time to dust off the old juicer for a 3-day raw juice cleanse. This will be a first for me! I decided on three days because I know it is an amount of time I can actually accomplish and then maybe next time I will try extending it to a week or longer. In searching for some juice recipes I came upon the Joe Cross 3-Day Weekend Juice Cleanse. Joe Cross is famous for his documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead which follows him on a 60 day juice cleanse in an effort to turn around his health. If you have not already seen this documentary it is a must-watch! Very informative and motivating about this subject and I like how it documents ordinary people who take charge of their health using food as medicine. Anyway the weekend juice cleanse looks perfect for what I want to do the next three days. It outlines a meal plan with juice recipes, shopping list, and I also like how it allows you one meal for dinner (consisting of fruit and veg of course). I plan on drinking as much juice as I want and I may or may not do the 1 meal a day, but I really like the idea of having that as an option in case I am dying to sink my teeth into something! Since this cleanse was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision, I wasn't all that prepared with loads of veggies. So last night I just used what I had on hand so I would have something to drink today until I went shopping.

1lb of carrots, 5 celery stalks, 2 apples and 1 pear...

 Turned into this!

Three days is not that long, I can do this!

I LOVE Halloween! Except for...

THE CANDY! What a weird holiday where everyone dresses up and goes door to door to get candy from strangers? Nevertheless I still love the dressing up part about it. But what to do with all the candy?! I remember being a kid and getting TONS of candy. Me and my sister would categorize it and then thoughtfully select which ones to eat first. My parents were awesome and never took our candy away but let us eat to our hearts content. And even though I can appreciate now how awesome they were to do that, I feel bad letting my kids to the same! I'm sure when they are older I will have no choice but for now I try to keep it reasonable. I let them eat as much as they want on Halloween, then after that it all goes into a huge bowl and is used for rewards. This still doesn't solve my dilemma that I love to eat candy. I hardly ever keep treats in the house because I can't control myself. But I'd feel too wasteful just throwing all that Halloween candy in the garbage so the only defense that has somewhat worked for me is to keep the candy where I can't see it, usually in the pantry up high. If its in the fridge or on the counter or even on a shelf that is in my direct line of sight, its just too difficult to not reach in a grab a piece. Its like an impulse food that I don't even care about if its not there, but if I can see it there's no stopping me. So readers (all 5 of you), what do you do with your Halloween candy and how to you keep yourself from going overboard on treats during the holiday season?