Hi all! This just a quick update to share that I’ve become a Nutrition & Natural Remedies Writer with The Alternative Daily! This is a great source for friendly, bite-sized information on holistic living.
You can check out my article on common issues tied to low stomach acid, and how to improve stomach acid production by clicking HERE.
I’ll be writing several articles a week, including one personal blog-style post which will be featured on the site.
I hope you’ll check it out!
Posted in Ancestral Nutrition, Safe Natural Remedies
Tagged natural remedy, nutrition
When we hear the word ‘hormones’ most of us probably think of moody, pimply faced high school kids. However, the truth is hormones aren’t just about PMS and overly randy teenagers, they are actually the chemical messengers that control many of the body’s functions.
Hormones are chemical messengers that travel throughout the body coordinating complex processes like growth, metabolism, and fertility. They can influence the function of the immune system, and even alter behavior. Before birth, they guide development of the brain and reproductive system. Hormones are the reason why your arms are the same length [and] why you can turn food into fuel… It is thanks to these chemicals that distant parts of the body communicate with one another during elaborate, and important, events. (source)
If you have issues with weight, mood, energy, sleep, skin or fertility, it’s likely that you have a hormone imbalance.
Modern living throws lots of toxins at us, especially through synthetic medications, pollution and plastics. These chemicals, along with stress, excessive inactivity and irregular sleep cycles can leave us with an imbalanced body. Finally, poor nutrition leaves us short of the raw materials we need to build healthy hormones.
Maca is a South American root vegetable related to a radish. The best way to use it is as a powder or in a capsule. I like this maca supergreens drink created by hormone expert Dr Anna Cabeca. If you want to check it out, you can click the image below (opens in a new tab).
HELP WHERE YOU NEED IT: Maca is special in that it doesn’t impose a certain effect on you (like drugs do). It is adaptogenic, meaning that it supports the body in healing. It allows the body to adapt and balance in whatever way it needs to. It helps the body produce more healthy hormones wherever they might be lacking in your particular case. (source) It doesn’t actually contain hormones, or hormone-imitating substances, but rather provides the body with raw materials to produce what it needs to heal itself.
MOOD: Another way maca can help you adapt to the stressful modern environment is by acting as a gentle anti-depressant and sedative. (source) It simultaneously helps to balance mood while decreasing anxiety.
LIBIDO: Maca contains multiple nutrients such as calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, sterols, essential fatty acids, fiber and amino acids. This nutrient density allows the body to build more sex hormones. Women and men both report a healthy increased libido when using maca. It has even earned the nickname “nature’s viagra”. (source) We all know that sex is highly therapeutic, both personally and for our relationship. Get your maca on! ;)
FERTILITY: Through the action of balancing hormones and providing vital nutrients, maca is able to boost fertility in both women and men.
Maca has been scientifically researched for the use of increasing fertility since 1961 [and has been used nutritionally for thousands of years by South American civilizations] and has been shown to contain specific compounds called glucosinolates which directly can affect fertility for both men and women. These alkaloids are responsible for maca’s ability to support hormonal balance. (source)
ENERGY: By supporting the endocrine system including the adrenal glands, which are often exhausted by cortisol production when we under-sleep and over-caffeinate, maca helps balance us out for a smoother source of energy.
NO SIDE EFFECTS: According to this article based on this study, maca “lowers measures of sexual dysfunction independent of estrogenic and androgenic activity, meaning that it benefited the subjects’ moods and libido without negatively affecting their sexual hormones.
Some people may experience mild stomach upset when using a plain (non-gelatinized) form of maca, so try this gelatinized form which is easy to digest. Some women also may notice a change in their menstrual cycle; this is just a sign that the hormones are on their way to becoming balanced. (source)
I really like this maca supergreens drink created by hormone expert Dr Anna Cabeca. It contains not only maca but several other superfoods such as spirulina, resveratrol and curcumin, all blended into a tasty green drink. I like it in my tall glass water bottle with a squeeze of lemon juice. If you’d like to try Mighty Maca Greens for yourself, you can order your jar HERE.
Overall maca is a highly beneficial and health-supporting herb that I think most people could benefit from. There is negligible if any sign of harmful effects, and a wide range of benefits. If you’d like to know more, this article provides a really good summary of the types of maca available and the wondrous health-giving powers they bestow to the informed consumer.
Have you tried maca? If so, what form do you find is best, and how did it help you? Share below in the comments, or on Facebook!
Posted in Fertility, Food as Medicine, Safe Natural Remedies
Tagged balance, energy, fertility, hormones, libido, maca, mood, natural remedy, PMS
[Newsflash: we’ve finally finished compiling all our vast knowledge of natural candida remedies into one ebook, to help you give your Candida overgrowth the boot once and for all. Click here to find out more!]
I’ve recently realized that I was a child of Candida. Literally the moment I entered the world, I was set up for an overgrowth of yeast and all the unfortunate symptoms that come along with that.
What the deuce am I talking about?
Well, it turns out a caesarean birth deprives you of all the lovely bacteria your mother’s body has prepared for you, which you’re supposed to be exposed to on your way out. This sets you up for poor gut bacteria, and as a result a poor immune system.
From there, the snowball keeps rolling. A poor immune system from the start, plus a “normal” North American diet of too much processed food, carbs and sugary things (but of course no FAT! who eats FAT! GASP!…. and cue ironic eye roll) adds up to repeated infections.
I grew up with constant strep and tonsilitis, plus various other weird things. Things like dry red rashes in my inner elbows, constant digestive distress, food intolerances, a swelly thing beside my nose for a while, a swelly thing in my earlobe for a while, a swelly thing in my groin for awhile, etc. All sorts of lovely things!
…Which I was inevitably prescribed antibiotics for. As we’re all hearing these days, antibiotics might save your life for now but they sure beat down the immune system even more in the long run.
Add to that 10 years of taking the pill from my late teens to late 20s, because I never knew any better and of course everyone takes the pill! Doctors literally shell ’em out like candy. Acne? here’s the pill! Painful periods? Take the pill. (here’s how the pill contributes to Candida overgrowth)
Turns out these are some of the classic causes for and symptoms of Candida albicans overgrowth. Who knew!
At some point a few years ago I started frantically researching holistic health and nutrition, because I had discovered the theory behind the paleo diet and I was super stoked to find something that didn’t seem like a fad and was actually based on human evolution. COOL! Along the way I found out about Candida overgrowth, and boy did I tick a lot of the boxes…
From that point I started a very long, stressful and expensive process of researching, buying and cycling through various candida remedies and protocols. Here are some that I tried:
So yeah, I spent a pile of cash, over a couple of years. I actually ingested health food store brands of essential oils, which I didn’t know at the time can be extremely dangerous and toxic. Dumb-dumb! And the thing is I was stressed and miserable! My symptoms were ok sometimes, but mostly came back every month at the end of my cycle, like clockwork. I was constantly researching and going out to buy the next thing, or ordering online. I was super anxious and literally HATED Candida with all my heart and constantly inwardly swore at it and cursed it.
I’m not saying none of the items in the above list work. Some of the other things I listed can definitely be helpful (which I’ll go into shortly). But in general my protocol was very typical of a Candida Diet, in that it was very violently focused on EAT NO SUGAR, CHOKE OUT THE CANDIDA, KILL IT WITH ANTI-FUNGALS.
I was about to lose my marbles and buy some like hundred-dollar capsule product that claimed it would somehow explode the candida, and was really quite sketchy with no solid evidence or backing, in a last-ditch attempt, after the eating-nothing-but-coconut-oil-for-3-days strategy failed at the end of the first day. Duh, I was starving an already adrenally-exhausted stressed-out immune-compromised body…
Thankfully I found this blog post from Lauren at Empowered Sustenance first.
She pokes holes in the typical Candida Diet approach, pointing out that it doesn’t affect the root causes of the Candida overgrowth, which are essentially:
Lauren also points out that
A Candida Diet impairs metabolism and hormone function. A sugar free diet will elevate stress hormones, which exhausts the adrenals, reduces thyroid hormones, and taxes the body.
I’ve learned about the effects of too-low-carb eating here as well. Taxing the body this way (especially when you are adrenally exhausted and immune-compromised) just exacerbates the 3 root causes of Candida listed above.
According to this article from the American Society of Microbiology,
When Candida albicans encounters stressful conditions, does it curl up and die? No! This crafty pathogen gets to work on its inventory of genes, slashing away until it finds a winning combination that can get it through the tough times.
This includes developing an armoured shell called chitin, building a bio-film, burrowing deeper and deeper into tissues, or casting out long filaments in search of the fuel it needs to survive. *gag, gag* I know, it’s totally freakish.
It’s important to keep in mind that Candida is supposed to exist in a certain amount in a healthy human, and completely choking it out is (clearly a losing battle and) actually not healthy.
Healthy candida levels are vital for proper nutrient absorption and to protect the intestinal tract from other infections. (source)
It’s just a matter of keeping things in a nice healthy balance. And this is where the mind-shift happened.
Thanks to Lauren’s article, I decided to shift away from the KILL CHOKE KILL approach, and toward a self-love, health-supporting mode of overcoming Candida overgrowth. The theory here is to support the immune system, metabolism and digestion so that the body can naturally re-balance the microbiome.
Here are the key ways that I’ve done this:
I’ve linked above to the few products I would recommend on your journey (just these, and save the $hundreds$ on searching!). I still have jars and bottles of random shite I collected over the past couple of years collecting dust in my cupboards…save yourself that!
If committed to kicking Candida, we’ve spent a huge amount of time preparing perhaps the most comprehensive paleo-friendly book available on the net for beating Candida. It provides 76 pages of in-depth information on how you can fight your Candida overgrowth and restore a healthy balance in your body, and keep it that way. This book is unique in that it revolves around the core concept of USING your body to fight the overgrowth by restoring properly-functioning immune and digestive systems, and then incorporating potent natural compounds to supercharge your body’s fight against it. The upside is that your health in general will drastically improve, restoring you to a healthy weight and possibly even giving the boot to any autoimmune diseases afflicting you. The image link below takes you to the order page on PayPal – it’s a very small investment in your health but a huge return!
The Paleo Guide to Beating Candida Naturally is just $12.99. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more extensively-researched, in-depth Candida-fighting protocol anywhere on the net.
What do you think? Has this changed your thinking? Does it make you feel relieved and less desperate to KILL KILL KILL? I definitely felt better and lighter when I decided to adopt this more loving approach. Share your experiences, methods and resources below, let’s all help a friend out!
Getting started using doTERRA essential oils can be overwhelming. You know you want to revamp your self care routine and medicine cabinet, but where to start?
I’ve put together a simple cheat-sheet on the top 15 doTERRA essential oils to provide support with everyday ailments. These include common concerns like digestion, respiratory, skin, immunity, stress, sleep and hormone balance. Do you know anyone who DOESN’T suffer with at least one of the above??
The first 10 oils on the below cheat sheet are from the Home Essentials Kit. The price for the kit is $275 USD. When I was enrolling with doTERRA I was like whoa that’s expensive…but I later realized that these are full-size 15 mL bottles!!! The Home Physician Kit that I bought ($125) only has 5 mL bottles, and no diffuser. At the time I didn’t realize that the bottles were different sizes. If only I had known! The Home Essentials Kit and the other largers kits offer A LOT more value for not much more investment.
The Home Essentials Kit is the perfect way to make a good investment in oils without breaking the bank.
It also offers a lot of bang for your buck with over $80 of savings (free stuff!) When you enroll is the only time you have access to the Starter Kits, so I recommend taking advantage of these savings while you can.
Also, a diffuser is SO KEY to your essential oils experience, especially if you are planning on using them for mood management, stress relief, improving sleep, allergies or respiratory concerns, or with children.
Diffusing oils is the safest and easiest way to experience the benefits, plus it adds healthy moisture to your home. I don’t know about you but we have a lot of issues with dryness with all the electric heat in the winter.
Our poor cat is very staticky (ha!) and our diffuser helps keep the air moister so we are all more comfortable and breathe easier.
The other 5 essential oils I included on the 15 oils cheat sheet are my favourite blends from doTERRA. These blends are amazing for everyday use, supporting detox, healthy metabolism (and weight loss), and mood management. The first oils I would buy after the Home Essentials Kit would be the mood blends including Elevation, Citrus Bliss, Serenity and Balance.
I use the Balance Grounding Blend daily for mini-spiritual escapes when I’ve had enough of traffic, screens, headlines and the noise of life in general. It’s not usually possible to escape into nature, but I feel that taking a quiet moment (even if it’s just in the bathroom!) and inhaling the beautiful plant molecules makes me feel connected to the natural world beyond our routine preoccupations.
I use the Elevation Joyful Blend or a citrus oil when I am feeling a bit blah or upset about something, and just need a pick-me-up. Serenity helps me sleep more soundly to get better quality rest.
Click the link above for retail & wholesale price buying options.
I hope that this summary and cheat sheet has helped you find some clarity on how to get started with doTERRA essential oils, and all the benefits they can bring you on your everyday journey toward optimal wellness.
Get in touch via the comments below, or the Contact page if you have any questions.
If you’re interested in partnering with me to build a business with doTERRA, check out this page.
Posted in Essential Oils, Safe Natural Remedies
Tagged detox, doterra, essential oils, medicine cabinet, natural remedy
This is part 2 of a 3-part series on safe remedies for children and babies.
1. Are you and your Doctor gambling with your child’s health? The dangers of medications for children
2. Go-to natural remedies for common children’s illnesses (How to detox your medicine cabinet and replace OTC meds with corresponding effective natural remedies)
3. How to ensure safety when using natural remedies and essential oils for children
Many of these dangers, remedies and safety measures will be very much relevant for adults too. I will link to each article as I complete them over the next couple of days.
In part one of this series we talked about the majorly risky practice of giving babies and children over-the-counter or prescription medications. Despite the best intentions of parents and medical practitioners, medicating young ones is often a shot in the dark with unknown repercussions. Children are being given drugs more and more, despite the fact that they are rarely tested on children. Check out that article here.
In part 2 we’re going to get super optimistic and reformative, looking at how to detox your medicine cabinet! I’ve put together a pretty extensive list of go-to natural remedies for common children’s illnesses. Please feel free to contribute more remedies that you’ve found helpful or effective in the comments at the end of the article.
I’ll be matching up the typical conventional medications with natural alternatives.
A quick disclaimer before we get right into it:
This should pretty much go without saying, but please always do your own research and only use remedies you feel comfortable with. Consult a practitioner if ever in doubt. The information here is for education only, and you should never delay seeking in-person care from a professional if your child is seriously ill.
Conventional treatments: Adderall, Vyvance, Concerta
Conventional treatments: Diphenhydramine, Benadryl, ZzzQuil
Conventional treatments: Abilify, Risperdal
Conventional treatments: Prednisone, Dexamethasone
Conventional treatments: therapy, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs (Prozac, Zoloft), tricyclic antidepressants (Amoxapine, Vivactil), benzodiazepines
Conventional treatment: Doctors frequently prescribe antibiotics just in case even if they don’t know that an illness is caused by bacteria, or which bacteria is causing it (source). This is leading to major damage to gut bacteria which regulates our digestion, immunity and much of our mood and mental wellbeing. It also leads to antibiotic-resistant bacteria which is a major threat to global health today. (source) I would highly recommend reading these articles for insight as to why your child probably doesn’t need antibiotics: Article 1, Article 2. As someone who has been a “victim” to likely unnecessary antibiotics MANY times in my life, and have struggled to re-balance my body in my adulthood, I would encourage you to seek alternatives and consult with a practitioner who treats antibiotics in a cautious and holistic manner.
(source)
Conventional treatment: iodine, hydrogen peroxide, petroleum-based ointments like Polysporin, Plastibase, Bactroban, Bioderm, Ozonol
Conventional treatment: ointments, hydrocortisone cream, pain relief medications (Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, Aleve, Naprosyn, Aspirin)
Conventional treatment: Nasal spray, Tylenol Cold, Mucinex, Robitussin, Nyquil, Vicks
(source)
Conventional treatment: Dicyclomine hydrochloride, simethicone, Anaspaz, Bentyl, Donnatol, Buscopan, Zantac, leaving your infant with other caregivers for respite. Not many treatments recommended other than suffering through it as it usually rectifies after a few months.
(source)
Conventional treatment: medicated shampoo, ketoconazole, anti-dandruff shampoo containing tar, selenium sulfide, hydrocortisone cream, petroleum-based mineral oil or jelly
Conventional treatment: inhaled medications such as racemic epinephrine, oral corticosteroids (prednisolone, dexamethasone)
Conventional treatment: Neosporin, Bactine, Polysporin, rubbing alcohol, Dettol, AfterBite
Conventional treatment: Zincofax, Desitin, Penaten, zinc oxide, Clotrimazole, Myconazole, Nystatin
Conventional treatment: Though the majority of ear infections are viral, most doctors treat ear infections as if bacteria were present just in case, and will prescribe antibiotics (amoxicillin, cephalosporins, clavulanate, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, azithromycin). Other common treatments include Tylenol and other OTC medications, puncturing the eardrum to drain fluid from the middle ear, tube insertion surgery, adenoidectomy
Conventional treatment: methylprednisolone, Medrol, dexamethasone, Bactroban, Protopic
Conventional treatment: Tylenol, Advil, Motrin. Tylenol can cause altererd liver function in children and can even spur Febrile seizures. (source)
Conventional treatment: the flu shot, antihistamines, nasal sprays, decongestants, pain relievers
Conventional treatment: adrenaline, epinephrine, avoiding foods (fear & emergency-based approach)
(source)
Conventional treatment: Most people just ride this out until they vomit or poop so much that they need to go to the hospital and get an IV to get re-hydrated. Over-the-counter medication to treat vomiting and diarrhea (which may be counter-productive because this is the body’s only way to rid the poisoning)
(source)
Conventional treatment: Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, Aleve, Nurofen, Panadol, escalating to more serious interventions such as prescription drugs and injections for migraines
Conventional treatment: as referenced in the first article in this series, children are frequently prescribed behaviour and mood-altering medications these days. Ritalin, Adderall, Wellbutrin etc.
Conventional treatment: Salicylic Acid, Compound W, liquid nitrogen – scary chemicals that eat the skin away
What are your go-to natural remedies? Do you find they work as well as conventional treatments? Have you or your loved ones been able to stop using medications thanks to natural remedies? Share your experiences below, you could change someone’s life!!
Posted in Babies & Children, Essential Oils, Safe Natural Remedies
Tagged babies, children, detox, DIY, essential oils, healthy, immunity, kids, medicine cabinet, natural remedy, safe, toddlers
This is part 1 of a 3-part series on safe remedies for children.
1. The dangers of medications for children
2. Go-to natural remedies for common children’s illnesses (How to detox your medicine cabinet and replace OTC meds with corresponding effective natural remedies).
3. How to ensure safety when using natural remedies and essential oils for children
Many of these dangers, remedies and safety measures will be very much relevant for adults too. I will link to each article as I complete them over the next couple of days.
Children get sick often. Their immune systems aren’t yet fully developed and they are constantly coming into contact with new foods, people and environments which they must adapt to. Colds, flus, rashes, fevers, headaches, tummy aches, ear infections, sore throats etc are an everyday occurrence in classrooms and families with young children.
When our young ones aren’t feeling well, we want to help relieve their symptoms as quickly as possible so they can rest and heal. We go to the medicine cabinet, the pharmacy or the doctor without a second thought. We feed them whatever the product might be that we find on the shelf that says “For Kids” on it and has a colourful packaging with a smiling child on the front.
It’s a comfortable oft-repeated routine, and the carefully positioned marketing makes us feel like we are doing the right thing.
But have you ever stopped to think whether that product is safe, or an appropriate strength for your child, or has been properly tested on children? And for that matter, children of the right age or weight, or who have a similar constitution and health history to YOUR child. We tend to blindly trust the pharmaceutical manufacturers and the pharmacists and doctors who recommend drugs, because that’s probably how we were treated as a kid. It might not even occur to us that there are other options that might be safer and more health-supporting for children in the long run.
The bodies, organs, digestive systems and brains of little ones are much more vulnerable than we are to the harsh, manipulative chemicals used in pharmaceuticals. They are also less able to communicate how they are feeling, what they’re in need of, or when something is affecting them in the wrong way.
Horen and colleagues found that pediatric outpatients had three times the risk of an adverse drug reaction, compared with adult outpatients, especially when the medication was used for an “off-label” indication – a common practice in pediatrics.
Children and adolescents are at greater risk than adults for medication errors because they have an immature physiology as well as developmental limitations that affect their ability to communicate and self-administer medications. (source)
Dr. Dianne Murphy, director of FDA’s Office of Pediatric Therapeutics, writes in this interview:
Know that children can have different adverse reactions to a drug than adults. So for a product that has not been studied in children, it is possible for an adverse effect to occur that may not be listed on the drug’s label.
Children are more sensitive than adults to many drugs. For example, antihistamines and alcohol—common ingredients in cold medications—can have adverse effects at lower doses on young patients, causing excitability or excessive drowsiness. Some [common] drugs, like aspirin, can cause serious illness or even death in children with chickenpox or flu symptoms.
Also, realize that some diseases may be expressed differently in children than in adults, and some drugs don’t work for kids even though they have been proven to work in adults.
The serious adverse events reported with cough and cold products include death, convulsions, rapid heart rates, and decreased levels of consciousness.
The FDA suddenly began recommending that cough and cold medicines not be used on young children in 2008-2009. Previous to this, and probably even now for those who haven’t heard the updated recommendations, how commonly were cough and cold medicines administered to young children? All the time! Toddlers and kids under 10 probably have the highest rates of coughs and colds out of any segment of society. Yet loving parents were/are unknowingly administering them medication containing toxic ingredients because they trust the industry that sells them.
Who knows what the next similar discovery, and sudden 180 switch, will be?
Medication for children, and particularly prescription meds, is currently the fastest-growing sector in the pharmaceutical industry. Check out these details from Melody Petersen, author of Our Daily Meds, an in-depth look at the pharmaceutical industry.
DP: You write about a growing market for drugs for children. You say we know little about the long-term effects of prescription meds on kids. Let’s talk particularly about depression medications and ADHD meds, which seem to be what kids are mostly prescribed.
MP:In recent years, sales of drugs for children have been the industry’s fastest growing business. Doctors now prescribe pills to children for all kinds of conditions — from high cholesterol to anxiety. The market for ADHD drugs has long been a big opportunity for the industry. More recently, the companies have had their sales reps urge doctors to prescribe antidepressants, antipsychotics and other psychiatric meds to children. The result: our kids take more of those medicines than children in other countries. For example, a study last year found that American children take three times more attention deficit medications and antidepressants than children in Europe.
DP: Could you tell me how the prescription med industry is in bed with doctors?
MP: The industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars on physicians every year. […] The drug companies pay doctors to be their so-called consultants. They also pay them to sit on corporate advisory boards and to give lectures to other doctors. They pay for up to 80 percent of the continuing medical education that doctors need to maintain their licenses. […] The truth is that doctors are no longer independent gatekeepers who keep us safe from drugs we don’t need. Far too many of them are financially tied to the industry. They are writing the prescriptions that their financial backers want them to write. (source)
I find it extremely frightening that more and more drugs are being marketed to children. Children are showing increasing issues with attention and mood problems, yet does that mean they need medication? I think there are a number of deeper issues at play here. We should not just continue on with our day-to-day consumerist status quo, and then get upset and medicate our children when they don’t behave the way we think they should.
According to this article from the American Journal of Nursing, most drugs are never actually tested on children, but end up being used on them anyway. The article explains that “the great majority of medications are developed in concentrations appropriate for adults; therefore, pediatric indications and dosage guidelines often aren’t included with a medication”.
Many of the medications of benefit to children in emergency situations and in the treatment of certain diseases have been approved by the FDA only for use in adults. Testing of these medications in children has been thwarted by several barriers inherent to research in children (for example, ethical concerns about using children as clinical trial subjects, the necessity of obtaining parental consent, and the difficulty of enrolling a sufficient number of children).
I can’t help but think that the industry is basically leaving the safety of drugs for children entirely up to chance. They will release a drug on minimal evidence at best, and wait for problems to arise afterward. According to these articles from the FDA website (1, 2):
“Most pediatric clinical trials involve a relatively small number of patients,” says Dianne Murphy, M.D., director of FDA’s Office of Pediatric Therapeutics, and problems might not be detected until the products are in widespread use. And a drug or device might be studied in one pediatric age group, but prescribed and used in another age group in which it has not been studied, she says.
And here is another shocker. Only about half of the medications used to treat children have ever been tested on children, and not necessarily on the appropriate age group. This information is openly posted on the FDA website, however how many people actually know or think about this stuff?
Q: Are medications that are intended for children clinically tested on children?
A: If the product is to be used only for children, then it must be studied in the pediatric population. However, many therapies are developed for adults and then used in children without having been studied in children. Therefore, most marketed products that are mostly used in adults have not been studied in children—even though they may be used by doctors to treat children.
There has been improvement in this area in regard to prescription drugs. As of 2008, an estimated 50 to 60 percent of prescription drugs used to treat children have been studied in some part of the pediatric population. Still, the likelihood that a medicine has actually been studied in neonates—children less than a month old—is close to zero.
So nearly a decade into the 21st Century, most medicines intended for children, including many over-the-counter (OTC) products, haven’t been clinically studied in children—and certainly not in all age populations that comprise the branch of medicine known as “pediatrics.” (source)
Parents frequently medicate children with things they pick up from the drug store that are labelled “for kids”. I certainly was when I was little! However, there can be significant risks that come with these seemingly innocuous remedies:
An April 2011 report from FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) found that confusion caused by the different concentrations of liquid acetaminophen for infants and children was leading to overdoses that made infants seriously ill, with some dying from liver failure.
So to avoid dosing errors, some manufacturers voluntarily changed the liquid acetaminophen marketed for infants from 80 mg per 0.8mL or 80 mg per 1 mL. But this is a voluntary change and some of the older, stronger concentrations of acetaminophen marketed for infants are still available and may remain available.
“There is still some on store shelves; there is still some in homes; and there is still some in distribution [continuing to be sold]”.
Why does this pose a danger?
If a pediatrician prescribes a 5 mL dose of the less concentrated liquid acetaminophen, but the parents administer a 5 mL dose of the more concentrated liquid acetaminophen, the child can receive a potentially fatal overdose during the course of therapy. [all due to a simple communication error!]
It is important to understand that there is no dosing amount specified for children younger than 2 years of age. If you have an infant or child younger than 2 years old, always check with your healthcare provider for dosing instructions. (source)
I know it says ‘check with your healthcare provider’ for dosing instructions for kids younger than 2, but I just have to say that any human / professional / doctor / caregiver can make mistakes. It’s ultimately a judgement call, and I just don’t think it’s worth the risk when there are so many less invasive, less risky options. (to come in article 2!)
When a child is sick, where do we turn for trust-worthy help and care? This article from the American Journal of Nursing explains that a child is not safe under the care of hospital staff either.
Several studies of pediatric inpatients found rates of medication error ranging from 4.5 to 5.7 errors per 100 medication orders.
To me, this rate is very high! Nearly 6 out of every 100 kids are receiving the wrong medicine and therefore being put at risk of adverse effects.
The article goes on to say that doctors frequently use “off-label (sometimes called unlicensed) medications, because the majority of medications FDA approved for children don’t offer many of the therapeutic benefits of off-label medications. It’s safe to use an off-label medication in a child only when its use is fully understood by all clinicians who treat the patient. Because most medications don’t carry information on child-related dosing guidelines, adverse effects, or safety and efficacy information, using medications in off-label applications-that is, without FDA approval for children-puts children at significant risk for error.”
Due to the fact that medications intended for adults are used on children, medical practitioners go on the assumption that a smaller dose will be safe. There are various equations used to calculate appropriate pediatric dosages, however “Clinicians should adjust the dosage according to the patient’s illness and overall medical condition, such as the presence of diseases affecting metabolism of the drug.” (source)
My interpretation of this mess is that giving children medication is basically a judgement call, or crapshoot. Even if a practitioner has the best intentions and tries to take everything into account, it’s easy to make a fatal error.
Misplacement of the decimal point is a common dosing error that can lead to a tenfold error in overdosing or underdosing [of infants and children]. The consequences of such errors include transient renal failure, tachycardia, respiratory failure, and cardiac arrest. (source)
To me, this makes a MAJOR case for taking the health of children into our own hands and building strong, healthy bodies in the first place. This includes pre-conception (with our own health prior to conceiving) and also during gestation, with good nutrition to build a healthy baby. Then, after birth we can use good food and natural remedies to support a young immune system, so that there is much less chance of illness or resorting to hospital care & drugs.
This articles from Forbes, called “More Kids are Dying as Prescription Drug Use Skyrockets” explains that:
According to the latest Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood poisoning deaths increased 80 percent between 2000 and 2009, and prescription drugs accounted for 57 percent of the increase.
And that statistic doesn’t account for any of the issues with over-the-counter (non-prescription) medications. Earlier in this post I mentioned that the FDA stopped recommending use of cough and cold syrup products on young children due to concerns of toxicity and unpredictable effects.
Upon further research I found that it’s estimated that 10% of children don’t have the enzyme required to metabolize the common active ingredient in cough syrups, and there is no way to know whether your child is one of these. It’s essentially playing Russian Roulette with your child’s health, yet 61% of parents still use cough syrup on their children (source).
And all this risk is being taken when honey has been found to be more effective (and much less risky) than cough syrup. It’s time to educate ourselves on natural remedies that don’t present risk of poison or overdose, and support the body to heal itself without creating side effects, resistance or addiction.
Here is another resource which you can check out on your own: 9 medicines not to give your toddler
Sorry for all the doom and gloom, but I hope that this article has given you some valuable food for thought!!
Stay tuned for the next 2 articles in this series; they will be much more action-oriented and optimistic! I will link to them as they are completed over the next few days. (Here is Part 2: Safe Natural & Effective Remedies for Kids, and How to Detox Your Medicine Cabinet)
We will look at safer, more natural remedies that help support the health and growing bodies of little ones.
Posted in Babies & Children, Safe Natural Remedies
Tagged babies, children, dangers, fatalities, kids, medication, medicine, natural remedy, risks, toddlers, toxic
When was the last time you got a good night’s sleep? Do you drag your arse out of bed every single day cursing your alarm and dreading the day ahead?
I’m here to tell you that there are 3 little- known factors that are keeping you from a restful sleep.
I’m not going to waste your valuable time telling you how important sleep is. Well OK just these 2 mind blowing facts.
1. According to this 2009 study people who expose themselves to light at night don’t produce enough melatonin for proper restful sleep. A lack of melatonin production causes us to be
not only immune suppressed, but … also at an increased risk of developing a number of different types of cancer. […] Sleep disturbances can lead to immune suppression and a shift to the predominance in cancer-stimulatory cytokines.
2. This 2010 study had one group sleeping 8.5 hours a night and the other sleeping 5.5 hours a night, while eating a healthy diet in an effort to lose weight. The results showed that:
Sleep curtailment decreased the proportion of weight lost as fat by 55% and increased the loss of fat-free body mass by 60%
Meaning that it’s 55% harder to lose fat, and 60% harder to keep your healthy lean muscle. Those are pretty shit odds!
So, in a nutshell, losing sleep makes you fat and cancerous. Ready for better sleep??
Let’s get straight to the action plan.
Magnesium
According to Marek Doyle, a nutritional medicine practitioner who writes for the Huffington Post, magnesium is rarely mentioned in conventional recommendations, but it effectively cures 90% of his insomnia patients within 24 hours.
Magnesium plays a vital role in over 325 basic reactions in human biochemistry, but in regards to sleep specifically:
Magnesium is vital for the function of GABA receptors, which exist across all areas of the brain and nervous system. GABA is a calming neurotransmitter that the brain requires to switch off; without it, we remain tense, our thoughts race and we lie in bed staring at the ceiling. (source)
How do you know if you’re short of magnesium? (it’s estimated that at least 80% of us are). If you have trouble falling asleep, wake easily, or wake at odd times. Also any of the following:
If you get cramps regularly, find that fluids pass through you easily, have cold hands and feet, experience tightness in the neck and shoulders or notice twitches in small muscles (the eyelid, for example)
There’s no harm in trying it, and certainly a lot to gain. So what’s the best way to replenish your magnesium? Oral supplements are often poorly absorbed, so I recommend a magnesium bath, lotion or spray. The lotion being the easiest, fastest and least fussy.
Be aware that magnesium may sting your skin slightly at first while you are recovering from deficiency. I would recommend using it 30-60 min before bed so it has time to absorb.
Calming Essential Oils for Better Sleep (Knock yourself out naturally)
This month I am so excited to try this blend from Megan Card.
She calls it the “better than ambien” blend since she suffered from insomnia for years, having tried numerous medicinal sleep aids. She never had such effective results (without the scary side effects and addiction risk of sleep aids) until she tried this essential oil blend.
It contains the most naturally relaxing sedative oils which will help calm your thoughts and prepare your body for sleep.
Here is the recipe:
(Combine in an amber or blue glass bottle)
Get the best oils HERE – this is where I buy mine from.
Apply several drops of the blend to the bottom of each foot before bed. The soles have the largest pores to allow oils to safely and rapidly enter the bloodstream.
Check out more about essential oils, or grab some and get started now at this page.
Blue-blocking Lenses
So you may have heard that the blue light from TVs and devices tricks your brain into thinking it’s daytime and keeps you awake. This is absolutely true.
However the problem is that most recommendations are along the lines of don’t use your phone past 9pm or don’t watch TV two hours before bedtime, etc. I’ll be the first to admit that most of the time in our modern lifestyle this is just never going to happen. It’s just not realistic. Although I do think it’s vital to practice ‘technology cleansing’ and not be glued to our phones every moment, especially not in the bedroom, I acknowledge that turning off all tech a few hours before bedtime is a bit of an idealistic notion.
Luckily I’ve discovered a way around this.
Grab yourself some of these babies and you will be effectively blocking the blue light that inhibits your natural melatonin production. I’ve heard a number of wellness experts discuss this simple and effective technique including Dave Asprey (The Bulletproof Executive), Katie the Wellness Mama and Chris Kresser.
I’ve read that it takes 3-4 hours of no-blue-light exposure for melatonin production to kick in, so try to wear your sweet orange or yellow specs from the time the sun goes down.
Grab some for your whole family or your flatmates and be awesome silly orange-lens-wearers together. Will and I rock these every night and we find it really helps. I can literally feel my brain kicking into “rest mode” when I wear them, and switch back into “alert mode” if I take them off.
If you’re worried about them ruining your sex life, that is a valid concern (ha). Although sorry to be a smartass but I’ll just point out that not sleeping well and being tired and grumpy, and/or getting cancer, will also do that. Solution: Use beeswax candles, low-blue lightbulbs, or salt lamps as it gets closer to bedtime or on evenings when you don’t want to wear your glasses! These all emit warm-spectrum light that won’t shut down your melatonin production.
A couple of other tips:
You might be wondering about melatonin supplements. It’s natural right, so it must be safe?
Well, according to The Sleep Solution by Emily Benfit, exogenous melatonin may make you feel sleepy, but it’s merely inducing limpness in your body where blood is restricted to the brain and heart and your general cognitive function is impaired.
Emily outlines the possible side effects of melatonin consumption:
This insight is thanks to this article from Hollywood Homestead.
Have you tried any of these techniques? Did you find success? Share your experiences below so we can all support each other!
Posted in Essential Oils, Primal Lifestyle, Safe Natural Remedies, Stress
Tagged anxiety, cancer, essential oils, insomnia, magnesium, natural remedy, rest, sleep, sleep apnea, weight loss
Chaga tea is the king of teas. It has so many freaking awesome benefits.
First things first, chaga is a mushroom that grows only on birch trees. It’s not soft and mushy though, it’s actually quite hard, almost as hard as wood. The outside is slightly crumbly and black.
The best chaga comes from the northern forests of Canada. Will and I were lucky enough to find some on a birch tree when we were in the French River area recently!
Chaga is usually wild-harvested and then dried and split into chunks. When you buy it make sure the company you choose harvests their Chaga sustainably. They should leave 20% of the mushroom intact on the tree so that it can grow back.
I’ve seen Chaga teabags around here and there, but I wouldn’t recommend them. Since it’s ground up and packaged, you can’t see the quality or how much Chaga is actually in there.
The best way is to buy a jar of “Chaga chunks” and just steep it into a tea (instructions below). It’s pretty affordable, I bought a big jar for about $30. The bag below is around $20. You can re-use the chunks multiple times so it lasts ages!
Here is a good source for your Chaga chunks!
What was your experience? Do you like the flavour? Are you digging the multiple health benefits of Chaga?
Posted in Food as Medicine, Safe Natural Remedies
Tagged adrenals, anti-cancer, antioxidants, chaga tea, detox, digestion, natural remedy, stress, tea
