LOTS of news sources are talking about staying well this season. Mostly if seems they share a message of doom and gloom and then follow it up with talk of vaccines. Or they promise to share the secrets for staying well and it ends up being obvious things like get enough sleep and wash your hands.
As a natural family we are taking a different approach. There will be no vaccines… EVER. Instead we usually like to tackle the season of sickness with healthy eating, natural germ killers, and herbal tinctures.
Why exactly do so many people get sick this time of year? Well, public schooling makes sharing the germs all to easy. The average person starts eating badly this time of year to. White sugar suppresses the immune system up to 50% for 24-48 hours and starting with Halloween kids eat lots of candy. My own kids got sick after we went to a Halloween party early this month. It is not rocket science to figure out why. I love Halloween but the candy part sucks big time.
White flour is another thing people consume alot of during the winter months and it too is bad news. People bake, they eat lots of bread and pasta, and they get sick. White flour and rice has had all the good stuff removed during processing and it is left with chemicals from the bleaching and enrichment processes. These chemicals suppress our immune system. Add white sugar in baked desserts and you get a double whammy.
Staying healthy this winter will be a whole heckuva alot easier if we stay away from the white stuff. The good news is that there are some wonderful, nutritious and delicious alternatives to white pasta, white (refined) sugar, and rice.
* Quinoa is a protein-rich grain which is native to the Andes. It has a delightful flavor and is easy to prepare. You can use it in place of rice for stir fry and you can use it cold in salad. It tastes great either way. It can also be made into pasta.
* Whole wheat pasta has become a high demand product that you can often find it in your local supermarket right alongside the traditional white pasta. It’s higher in fiber, protein, B vitamins, and minerals than standard white flour varieties. You can also bake with whole wheat flour obviously.
* Buckwheat is another awesome alternative. My husband loves the stuff in pancakes and soba noodles? Soba is made from buckwheat and is high in protein and fiber. It’s delicious with Japanese recipes and flavors and also wonderful in soup.
* Spelt can be used to make gluten-free bread and cereal, and can also be used to make pasta. It has a sweet, nutty flavor.
* Brown rice is just as filling and versatile as white rice but it’s much healthier for you. It is a great source of fiber, has a bit of protein and other nutrients and has a delightful texture.
* Honey can be used in baking instead of sugar. Banana bread with whole wheat flour, honey, and extra bananas tastes every bit as good as banana bread made with the white stuff. Honey is also great for sweetening tea.
* Agave Nectar is what we use for most of our desserts like raw chocolate fudge cookies. There is a raging debate on how similar the extraction method is to that of HFCS but we rarely use more than a few tablespoons a week.
* Dehydrated dates and other fruits are the reason we can get away with using so little agave in our cookies, nut bars, pies, etc. They are amazingly sweet and combined with good old fashioned nuts you have pie crusts and breakfast bars.
Avoiding foods and sweeteners that actually work to encourage sickness will be a great component in the battle to stay well. Killing germs is another but we don’t crazy with that here. We use soap and hot water and Four Thieves Vinegar which is a blend of wine vinegar, herbs, and garlic.
To encourage wellness we drink green juices, green smoothies, and tea with herbal tinctures. Herb Pharm’s Children’s Herbal Compound is a good one for kids that was recommended to me by an herbalist mom.
Staying well or getting well fast after an illness does not require elusive information… just some common sense practices and healthy eating. If we aren’t willing to saddle that pony and ride it then we shouldn’t be surprised when we get sick. It does, however, provide some teachings moments when your kids see a direct correlation between sugar intake and illness. Some things need to be learned the hard way.
I use the King Arthur whole wheat white flour. I’ve been told that it’s good but I haven’t done much research on it. I don’t know what makes it white and whole wheat but I really like it. I wonder. We use a lot of Honey in this house as it’s a miracle food of sorts. A friend of mine brought over some agave nectar for me last month and told me I should replace my honey with it. No way am I going to do that, but that agave nectar is really good in it’s own right. An excellent suggestion. One other thing I wonder about. I recently started buying that Ezekiel bread that’s sprouted grains. I read the package (I know, lured by the ad :-) and it said all sorts of good things.
Anyhoo, thanks for the awesome tips! Toodles.
with Halloween right around the corner and people getting swine flu all around us, this is a GREAT reminder to steer clear of the white stuff!!!
great post!!!
thanks ;)
Hi There,
LOVE your site! Thanks for all the ideas. Couple of questions:
1. Do you make or buy the Four Thieves Vinegar and if so where do you buy it and do you use it as a hand soap or in some other way?
2. The Herb Pharm for your kids, do you use it prophilacticaly? (sp?) I have a 5 month old daughter so she probably doesn’t need it. I’m bfing, and taking echinachae as a precaution.
Thanks so much!!!
Here! Here!
We too will not be vaccinating…ever…for a multitude of reasons and while eating a GF, CF, sugar free, dye & preservative free diet…that’s gotta help somewhat, even though we’re just coming through the flu I know we’re healthier for it.
I use Agave nectar…quite a bit…and find that it doesn’t have the spike or affect my children like refined sugar so for that reason alone it’s worth it’s weight in gold to me.
We also use Htrio’s Kick It to boost immunity….homeopathic remedy.
And now I’ll go wash my hands & check on my sleeping toddler.
Cheers,
Mrs. M
I love brown rice… most people don’t but I think its delicious
For those who love to bake, whole wheat pastry flour is a finer grind that works really well in cakes and other baked goods where regular wh wheat is too heavy.
I love agave! Great stuff.
Tiffany, what do you think of sucanat? I realize it’s still cane sugar but I wonder that it’s not at least a little better than the white stuff.
Hi, just wanted to comment – Spelt is NOT gluten free. It is a “Low gluten” variation of wheat and not suited for a gluten free diet.
http://www.csaceliacs.org/gluten_grains.php
Remember that regular tea will fight infection quite well. Studies have shown that people who gargle with tea are much less likely to get colds and flu. It’s antibacterial and antimicrobial. In the same way it cleans your teeth and gums and eliminates bad breath, by killing off the germs. So drink your tea! –Spirituality of Tea
A question re: vaccination: Aside from what bad chemicals some have said the gov’t is putting into the vaccines that we get, isn’t it the same as if we weren’t vaccinated, our child goes to a slumber party, and gets a cold or the flu from one of the kids? Their body would have to fight the disease, thus being stronger from it hopefully.
Doesn’t it work the same way with a vaccination? We get a dead strain of whatever we’re being vaccinated from, thus our body builds a defense against that strain?
I’m just wondering why we’d want our children to be left to fight whatever diseases without their body building up an immunity beforehand.
I think I’d rather have my daughter get a dead strain of the virus than a live one.
The jury is still out for me on vaccinations and the gov’t simply because I don’t trust our federal gov’t any more than I can throw them…these are just questions and maybe somebody can help answer them for me.
Ted, flu vaccines almost always have mercury in them along with a host of other nasty things. I would rather my kids get sick the old fashioned way, especially since my oldest did almost die from a vaccine… seizure and full respiratory arrest.
Ted: If you have even the slightest doubts about vaccines, I recommend you read some books about the negative affects of them. I am so amazed that more people don’t refuse vaccines after I’ve learned about them. I thought it was crazy at first, to hear of people skipping vaccinations, but not anymore!
I agree strongly with Ted about the vaccines. Having just suffered through TWO weeks of violent illness with my family having H1N1, I would much rather been able to give them the shot. It was not available in my area. My husband was sick for 10 days with fever every day reaching 105 for an extended period. This flu brings hard vomiting, coughing and total body malaise. Without tamiflu my children would likely have been in the hospital. They both started off with extreme symptoms at the onset of illness and I quickly took them to the Dr for evaluation, testing and medication.
We eat very healthily, no white bread/flours, very limited sugar (Agave nectar and honey are my main sweeteners when we use them), and no processed foods. We eat heavy on fruits and vegetables. I look at labels religiously for ingredients. Our good diet did not matter with this virus.
Science says, your body makes antibodies to the vaccine the same way it makes antibodies to the “real” virus without having to fight all the symptoms of the flu.
Knowing personally how devastating the H1N1 is I highly recommend the vaccine if you are able to get it. The BENEFIT highly exceeds the RISK on this one.
Julia, I know several families locally who got H1N1 and it was very mild… just like a regular flu. The regular flu kills thousands every year as well so I see no more danger in H1N1 personally. If I did see more danger I might revisit the issue but right now I see more risk in the mercury and chemical preservatives then I do in getting the flu.
I’m with Tiffany re the vaccine – you could die from a vaccine OR the flu – both very unlikely. Why not build yor immunity by battling the disease?
White flour and sugar are absolute crap. Havign said that, my son has literally puked sweet potatoes on teh table after a taste, adn I spent forever makig parsnip, coconut, agave nectar muffins just to gross people out. I say eat brown rice all week adn make sugar filled cookies on the weekend.
Listen, sugar is way worse than most people understand. But isn’t the stress of being anti-fun and against the tide almost as bad?
Thanks for a great post! I just heard recently about the effects of sugar to your immune system, I never knew that! Maybe that’s another reason I was always sick when I worked at the daycare…
Thanks for some great ideas, I’ll definitely have to try quinoa sometime.
Good tips Tiffany. Excluding those white substances from our normal daily routine has dramatically impacted all of our health in a positive way.
I’m seriously on boat with the No Vaccine group! This Vaccine scares the heck out of me! There is NO way I want that chemical pumped in any of my family.
I just stumbled onto this website and I am so happy I did. I am a new mom and do not vaccinate. I recenly moved to Houston, Texas from California. I feel alone her in my “non-vaccinating” mindset. Most of my family here is in the medical profession and do not agree with me either. Does anyone know of how I can find local groups of people like me or people on this site to hang out with and raise out children together? I would love some local peeps. Thanks!
ugh – if I could type that would be good too. My name is Kristie, not Krisite. :)