Nutrition

I am so blessed to have found an amazing pediatrician for my family.  She runs an integrative, holistic pediatric practice, utilizing alternative and traditional approaches to medical care.  She is dedicated to making kids healthier, not just treating symptoms.  Dr Bain has personally seen how toxins can disrupt a vulnerable immune system through her own journey back to health after nine neck and back surgeries and breast cancer. Dr Bain recently wrote “How the Chiropractor Saved My Life, My Journey to Wellness and Beyond to tell her amazing story.  


Last weekend she put on a speaking engagement called Journey to Wellness and Beyond, How to Get from Here to There.  It was awesome!


Now, unfortunately, after a rough night and hectic morning, I was like an hour and a half late so I missed Dr Bain's presentation as well as the Chiropractor, Dr. Matt Chalmers.  I bought a copy of Dr. Bain's book so I'm sure I'll get most of her info that she went over in there.  But what I did hear was still great.  This was really eye-opening, and motivating for me, as I've always been health oriented, and not necessarily 'unhealthy", but I haven't been totally on top of real good nutrition.  That's always been a hard piece of the puzzle for me because I grew up a severe picky eater, to the point it was probably considered an eating disorder with a lot of food phobias.  No reason why, I've just always really struggled with eating.  SLOWLY, just over the past few years I've been graduating from the super picky kid diet to being able to try new things without feeling major anxiety.  I know, I'm a weirdo and I never wanted people to know about it.  (At least to any parents who are worried about their picky eaters and kids with bad appetites out there....they will survive and still grow. My mom was ALWAYS worried about how I was able to grow...but I guess you can grow and function on a diet of potatoes, milk and cheerios!)

The speaker I did arrive in time to hear was Laura Kopec, certified nutritionist, public speaker, teacher, and writer and is a professional member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, the American Holistic Health Association, the Coalition for Natural Health. She is a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. 

I did have the baby with me and had to step out a few times but here are some of the interesting points from her presentation that I wanted to share.  Some stuff you may already know, some may surprise you.  And as with anything...take what you like...leave what you don't.

*A GOOD MOM east right.  It's the most important thing we can do as a parents.

*The nutrition before and during the 1st trimester of pregnancy is so important-that's what forms organs the child will have for life.

*Reverse Osmosis is the best (I already drink this kind) reverse osmosis is the only process that actually strips the pharmaceuticals out of the water.  (you didn't know there are tons of pharmaceuticals in the water?  Hospitals routinely dump tons of drugs down the toilets, people dump them down the toilet and many depression medications, like those used to treat bipolar, go through the body and into the water system and our water treatment centers aren't using good enough processes to strip the pharmaceuticals out.)

*Refined carbs are bad for us - animals that were put on a bread and water diet all died.

*Eat COMPLEX carbs...those are good for us.

*DRINK ENOUGH WATER! most people don't drink enough water and are unknowingly suffering from dehydration.  You need to drink at least half your weight in fluid ounces of water every 24 hours.

*Soda in pregnancy is horrible (oops! craved root beer during my first pregnancy) Why? I didn't catch all the reasons...some she said were HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) = impaired collagen growth, and there is a link between moms who drink excessive amounts of soda and missing fingers and toes in babies.  Carbonation = calcium loss.

* Poor nutrition during pregnancy can actually affect your GRANDCHILD'S risk of diabetes.

 *Breast Milk is perfect food for a baby, and nutrition is still so important you are still sharing your body.  You should give up Dairy and Sugar when nursing (I've already given up dairy because it was affecting the baby, sugar...that's gonna be a toughie!)

*Eating right and sleeping right = good kids

*Toxic food releases adrenalin=hyperactivity in children

*Most kids are deficient in one or more of the following: calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, Vit.A, Vit.C, Lack B12 and lack Folic Acid.

* Over the years, Toxic food causes adrenal fatigue=depression, chronic fatigue in teens and adults....so we have hyperactive kids and depressed and tired teens and adults...hmmmm....

*If you compromise your kids nutrition, you compromise their health and you compromise their future.

*SOLUTION?  Just eat REAL FOOD.  Real food is food that goes bad, food that rots, gets old, grows mold, attracts bugs.

*Connection between toxic food and mood + temperament

CHALLENGE-eat real food for 30 days...no chemical food, no HFCS, no Disodium, etc.  in the beginning it will be really difficult, but it will force you to look at all your labels and eat whole foods.  In 30 days you will feel like a new person.  You don't realize the effect these chemicals have had on your body until you get them out.

take home message?
Real moms eat real food and feed their kids real food.

Some of Laura Kopecs tips from the Q&A afterward

Make a menu, shop once a week and consume things in the order they go bad.  Eat spinach beginning of week, potatoes and carrots end of week


Avoid eating out, if she has to eat out, she takes activated charcoal to help not feel like crap after (it acts like a sponge and helps absorb the toxins and remove them from your body, and she said it's more of a lifestyle thing, not something you just do occasionally)


Cow's milk-the protein is so complicated that it is very hard for us to process, it's not made for people...it's designed to grow a little baby calf into a very large animal.  It actually leaches calcium and magnesium from you, so kind of ofsets the benefit of drinking it to get calcium. and it's linked to ADHD.


She recommended a company called Rain Fresh as the leading company to get the best water, they have taken every aspect into consideration...and was talking about when you bend water and stuff....she lost me there...but they are supposed to have the best water and make it affordable and deliver to your home.


Rethink sources of protein...you don't have to eat meat every day to get enough protein.  1 cup of peas has 16 grams of protein.  Her family eats meat 2-3 times a week and the rest is vegetarian sources of protein.
She said only eat free range chickens and recommended buffalo meat for red meat...it's a lot cleaner than beef, especially corn fed cows that were not meant to digest corn and it produces ammonia and then they are given more chemicals to help with the amonia. (I just watched Food Inc. and learned about the problem with feeding cows corn, their bodies are not designed to digest it and in the process, E. coli develops, a good documentary to watch, but make your husband watch it with you!  If your like us, it's probably your turn to pic the movie anyway! lol)

She recommended a 4 day rotation diet-at most eat the same thing twice a week of anything-if you eat the same things everyday, it can inundate your body and cause food intolerance.  (uh...too bad, I'm still eating my granola bars every day!)


She said to download the sticker chart on her website to help kids eat right.


Supplements- put your supplements in 2 oz. of vinegar (which simulates stomach acid) and if it doesn't start to dissolve in 20-30 minutes, most likely it's passing through you without breaking down and you are literally flushing money down the toilet.  


She mentioned the "Yeast Connection" and "candida virus" which sounded important but then she was out of time so I'll have to look that up.


THE NEXT SPEAKER was Mary Anne Morris, of Healthy Cooking, in McKinney, she teaches others how to prepare and cook their foods so they retain more than double the nutrients and prevent leaching of toxic metals into their food. The result of her methods also reduce the time spent in the kitchen by at least half, as well as reducing grocery expenses by about 30%! Her emphasis is “It’s not only WHAT you eat, but HOW you prepare and cook it.” These are the same methods exclusively used by The Cancer Project cooking schools


 *One major point she made was to throw out your non-stick cookware.  It is toxic and has been baned in other countries because is carcinogenic.  She recently bought a gerbal for one of her kids and even the pet store person instructed them not to keep the cage near the kitchen when cooking because the fumes from non-stick cookware can kill the animal.  

*This next generation is going to see many children dying before their parents.
*Cancer can be in the body for 4 years before it actually shows up
*Through conventional cooking, you are only getting20% of the nutrients.  When you cook your veggies in water you lose a lot of nutrients, when you steam them, it's too hot and kills a lot of the good stuff in it, when you microwave, you are killing 95% or more of the nutrients and when you reheat in the microwave, you get 0% nutrients.  Never cook above 200 F if you want to preserve the nutrients.  


I made an appointment for a free dinner with Mary a few weeks from now, so she will come to my home and demonstrate the proper way of cooking your food, the method that is utilized by the Cancer cooking schools. I'll let you know how it goes! 



The main thing I took away from this is that we need to eat more veggies and a lot less refined carbs goodbye easy white pasta dinners:( ...but also that healthy living doesn't have to be all or nothing...you don't have to go vegan or decide..."well, it seems like no matter what we do everything is bad for us so might as well not worry and enjoy life."  There is a middle ground.  There is no one size fits all and you have to take your own approach and do what you think is best for you and your family.  I did drive home feeling guilty about not having better nutrition in our home, or being the best example, but I'm learning more all the time and your own children are all you need for the motivation to live a healthier lifestyle.  On a recent date with my hubby, we were at the movies and before it started, a statistic popped up onscreen that 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get cancer.  WHAT???  I would rather be proactive than reactive.  Better to make small changes where you can than do nothing.  I'm feeling especially protective of my kids, because it's my responsibility to feed them good food and teach them to make good choices because it will affect their entire future and the generations that come after them.  Right now my goal is to learn to like more veggies, plan meals for the week so I don't just throw on some spaghetti or ravioli last minute, and just focus on eating REAL FOOD.  (thank gosh kettle brand chips count in my opinion since they are made of all REAL ingredients.)
 
Now does this mean my family will never enjoy another Oreo?  No.  I'm sure we'll still have treats that are total crap...but it will be on occasion and hopefully, once we are so accustomed to eating mostly all real food, perhaps we just won't enjoy those things anymore.  


I'm just feeling inspired and excited because I've always been health oriented, but just haven't taken nutrition as seriously before as I am now...after watching FOOD Inc, and this recent wellness event.  I thought we ate decently but I now what I need to do better or differently.  

Also a handy resource that I've printed out is the NO GMO food guide.  They didn't really go over gmo's but by eating all real food you avoid them mostly.  Don't know what I'm talking about? Here is an article REALLY WORTH READING!