Elise turns 5

I'm a little late, since Elise's birthday was in April, but here we go.

This young lady has really turned into our little princess, despite our concerted attempts to keep her from being one!  She loves all things frilly, sprarkly, ruffly and pink.  She loves necklaces, bracelets, purses and sparkly shoes, of course.  This is kind of hard for her, considering her brothers don't care for such things and think she's kind of ridiculous (although I think a couple of them might be slightly jealous that she can acquire such luxuries).

For her birthday she wanted a Hello Kitty's garden cake.  I found some little Hello Kitty accessories at Target and thus the cake transpired.  She mastered her new scooter right away, and has also learned to ride a 2 wheeled bike with only a couple lessons from Luke. 

This fall she has been learning to read, and also loves to play the piano pretty much every day.  I need to keep on the lessons for her (which I always forget to do, because somehow when you have 5 kids, piano lessons just never are top priority).  She tries to plunk out her own songs, so I think with a couple lessons, she could actually do something with it.    We also got a kids kitchen lately, so she's been busy playing restaurant with the boys.  She loves drawing and coloring and is always eager to help pick things from the garden or the berry patch.  Many times this summer we couldn't find her and she would be out in the blueberry patch just picking away.  I also found a little glass tea set (just like the Holly Hobbie one I had as a child) for her, so her and Isaac like to have tea parties with oodles of water and spills.

She also just adores her Daddy.  She's always cuddling with him and telling him stories.  She dotes on little Celeste and is very aware of Celeste's needs and lets me know how baby is doing.  It's so neat to see how different boys and girls are from each other.  You can tell she's totally soaking up all the mothering information so that she'll have it for when she is a mom someday.  So awesome, but makes me be more aware that I'm setting a good example for her!

We are so blessed to have our Elise Meredith in our family!

Your Liver- the good, the bad, and the inevitable!

Now comes the post I had promised about the liver.  Your liver.  My liver.  Whoever's liver!

I'm going to now cut and paste from a few websites that show deeper how the liver works and why keeping it healthy is so important.  I'm certainly no expert on the subject, but hopefully this will give enough information to delve deeper for yourself if need be.  Any deep issues should be addressed by a Naturopathic Doctor or Functional Medicine Doctor.  There are dozens of ways to address liver health, and they each work in a somewhat different way.  The main thing you want is to get your liver (your big huge blood filter) to be working properly.  Red letters indicate links for more information or links where to buy products (in case you didn't know!)

What does your liver do?

The liver performs hundreds of important tasks. Here are just a few:

• Toxin Removal: During digestion, blood from the stomach and bowel filters up through the liver. This is where toxins, drugs, alcohol, bacteria, and other poisons are cleared to the best of your liver’s ability.
• Fat Digestion: Bile is formed in the liver then stored in the gallbladder to break down fat molecules. This also helps you digest fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Your liver is key to burning fat and maintaining a healthy weight.
• Carbohydrate Metabolism: The liver helps insure steady energy levels by producing and storing glucose to regulate blood sugar. Liver problems can be the hidden cause of blood sugar issues and fatigue.

• Blood Regulation: The liver creates proteins for blood clotting and blood volume. Because every cell in your body is nourished by blood passing through the liver, a disabled liver clogged by stones makes your whole body a toxic breeding ground for disease.
• Hormone Balance: Estrogen, testosterone, and insulin are just a few of the hormones the liver helps regulate. Poor liver function and hormone imbalance often go hand in hand.

- See more at: (source)

*This is a good analogy of what the liver does:

Have you ever changed the oil in a car? What does the oil look like when you drain it out? It is black and gritty. When you put fresh new oil into the engine, what does it look like? It is clear, smooth (no grit) and amber colored. As this new oil circulates through the engine, it picks up carbon and dirt. The oil is keeping the engine toxin-free so that it can run at optimum capacity. If we allowed the same oil to continue to circulate through the engine for a long time—say years—what would eventually happen to the engine? It would lock-up. It would cease to function. Everyone who deals with machinery knows the importance of changing the oil in an engine. It is the same with the human body. The bile is the oil. It is responsible for carrying out waste. However, if we never change the oil, and the old oil continues to circulate over and over again, eventually that oil will lock up the engine. In this case, the engine is the gall bladder that becomes blocked with debris—the debris is the old bile or oil that is so nasty by now, that the gall bladder is no longer able to function properly. What is the answer? Change the oil. The new oil (bile) will clean out all the old bile deposits and the gall bladder will be restored to health. - See more at: (source)

*A bit on the gall bladder and how it relates to your liver.

Nasty Toxins Are Filtered From The Blood, Now What?

Once the liver has filtered these toxins and waste from the bloodstream, it is necessary to find a pathway out of the body for this “garbage.” The liver has no access to the urinary tract, so it cannot send its trash away through that system. However, the liver does make bile, and this bile goes to the gall bladder. The gall bladder stores the bile and then releases it at the appropriate time into the duodenum (first part of the small intestine where most digestion takes place). If the bile can travel the length of the intestinal tract and be expelled from the body in a bowel movement, then the liver will have been successful in ridding the body of those toxins and wastes that were placed in the bile.- See more at: (source)

*This is a fascinating article on Why Beans DON'T Cause Gas. "Beans are a bile magnet. Bile and beans have an incredible affinity or liking for one another. They make a sort of chemical bond that is almost impossible to break. Most of the other foods with which bile binds in the intestinal tract are foods with which the bile makes temporary bonds. But when the bean enters, the bile leaves all other foods behind and rushes to make a permanent bond with the bean.

Now you must know something else about bile. This digestive fluid that the liver makes is released into the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). It travels to the last part of the small intestine, doing its digestive work, and when it reaches the terminal part of the ileum, bile is reabsorbed and returns to the liver! How much bile returns? Ninety to ninety-five percent!"  Read the article to see how to get this nasty bile out of your system so that your body can make new, fresh bile.

- See more at: http://www.karenhurd.com/pages/healthtopics/specifichealthconcerns/ht-shc-whybeansdontcausegas.html#sthash.iock96pR.dpuf

*Here's one last interesting article on how a clogged/congested/sluggish liver relates to eyesight.  Yes, eyesight.  Most of us would never connect the two, but it makes a whole lot of sense~

"Blurry vision, Myopia (nearsightedness), floaters in the eyes, dry eyes, or color blindness have been linked to liver blood deficiencies. Liver blood deficiency can be caused by scarring of the liver or anemia. Both of these problems prevent the flow of blood through the liver. Blood from the liver is believed to moisten and nourish the eyes. Bloodshot eyes, pain, and burning sensations in the eyes are linked to liver heat. Liver heat is usually associated with an inflammation in the liver.Your eyeball turning upwards or moving involuntarily has been linked with internal liver wind. Internal liver wind is normally associated with extreme heat in the liver. This can be caused by extreme high blood pressure or emotional stress. Strange as it may seem, your liver and your eyes really are linked in many ways. The head bone’s connected to the neck bone!" (more information/source)

Now here is a few bits and pieces about common complaints in relation to your liver~

*How the liver works in relation to hormones.  Although hormones aren't produced in the liver, the liver regulates their release.  Mainly sex hormones and insulin, but others as well.  This next one is lengthy but also worth the read.  Especially when so many people are experiencing various hormone imbalances these days.

 More information/source:  http://drritamarie.com/blog/2013/06/04/the-role-of-liver-detoxification-in-hormonal-imbalance/

The liver and allergies

"As histamine is also asasociated with allergy, allergy itself indictes a sluggish liver. I don't believe in allergy. I believe allergy is merely a symptom of an underlying cause, notably a sluggish liver. A good naturopath should always treat the causes. Complete avoidance of wheat and milk may alleviate symptoms but is it also important to improve the breakdown of histamine in the body. I believe that people should be able to handle normal amounts of the top 8 allergens (the most common food allergies are to dairy, egg, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish) without developing symptoms of allergy. It is not necessary for total elimination of suspect allergens. It should be enough to reduce and rotate whilst treating the “cause” of the allergy which is not wheat etc. per se, however excess histamine resulting from poor methylation by the liver. As naturopaths we should always treat the cause. In TCM also, there is also no such thing as allergy. Allergy symptoms such as itching and rash, are seen are a Liver pathology." 

(source)

*What a fatty liver is and what to do about it.

"Around one in five persons in the general population, in the USA and Australia has a fatty liver. Fatty liver is usually associated with abdominal obesity and insulin resistance and is more common in people with type 2 diabetes."  (source for more information)

This link is just a good all around one for liver health.  Lots of good information.

http://www.liverdoctor.com/liver-check

So now that you know all of this, what can you do?  There are many heavy duty cleanses out there that work really well, but for most of us, a gentler, calmer method works better.  Slowly add in more good things, and slowly flush out more bad things.  To start, here's some ideas to incorporate into your diet: 19 foods that naturally cleanse your liver. Finding out how toxic you are is also a good thing to figure out.  Here's a quick toxins quiz. A digestive bitter will help with digestion if yours is poor.  Urban Moonshine and Mountain Meadow Herbs Liver Glow (or Liver Glow II if pregnant or nursing) have some good ones for starters.  

Wikihow Liver Cleanse has a great article on daily things you can add in to gently cleanse your liver.  Easy things like adding lemon to your water, adding more garlic, and the like.  To quote from their website,  "The liver is the second largest organ in the human body and one of the most important, because it's responsible for filtering harmful toxins out of the bloodstream. There are medical programs to detoxify the liver, but there are also several natural, simple lifestyle changes you can make that will result in a clean, healthy liver."

If your liver is congested/sluggish, this can only go on for so long.  Permanent damage is inevidible if it's constantly worn down and never renewed.  Here's a link to what liver disease is, symptoms and what can be done about it (if it's not past the point of no return).  http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/knowing-symptoms-of-liver-disease-save-life.html

Interestingly, cardamom is a great spice to be using too.  You can add it to your tea or coffee, to change it from acid to alkaline.  Either sprinkle some in with the grounds while brewing, or add a peeled pod to your coffee cup.  "Cardamom is also alkaline, making it a natural antidote to acid. As a member of the ginger family, cardamom has been used to make heavy and acidic foods easier to digest for more than 5,000 years. Throughout the Middle East even coffee is brewed with ground cardamom seeds, reducing its acid and neutralizing the stimulating effects of caffeine (plus, it tastes good!). Cardamom is also one of the richest sources of the phytochemical cineole, a potent antiseptic for bad breath, gum disease, sore throats, and respiratory conditions." (source)

There you have it.  Liver Health 101 from my perspective.

I also read "Toxic Relief" by Dr. Don Colbert who promotes juicing and fasting as a way to detoxify.  He also goes into the spiritual aspect of fasting, which I haven't really looked into much before.  I'm going to ponder that subject for a while as it seems fascinating.  I am reading "Healing Fatty Liver Disease" and "Fatty Liver Disease, You Can Reverse It" also.  Can you tell I just ordered whatever liver subject books the library had?  Yep.  That's what I did.

Visit with the Herbalist

As I mentioned in prior posts, when we were in Canada we went to see an Master Herbalist who my parents see.  What I like about her is that she looks at our blood under the microscope (Live Blood Analysis) so her results are pretty objective.  She's rather distracted and likes to visit, so I had to use my quizzical nature to my advantage and ask lots of questions to keep her on track!  Greg, myself, James and Elise saw her, as we seem to be the ones needing some health direction.  Although I feel we've been on the right track to healing, sometimes I wonder if we really are.  So, going to her is reasonably priced and gave me lots of direction as well as an overwhelming amount of information to sort through and process.  We didn't use any of her recommended supplements, as I needed to research more what herbs/vitamins were safe during nursing (most of all), but also wanted to conglomerate so that I'm not buying dozens of bottles of things when 1 or 2 would cover most of the basics.

So, what she found was that Greg and I both needed some major liver cleansing.  Mine is full of ammonia (a byproduct of having yucky parasites in my system) and Greg's was just overloaded altogether (she didn't say why, but I'm assuming workplace toxins mostly, possibly poor diet in single days, former smoker, etc.)  She wanted me to go on a parasite, candida yeast and liver cleanse, and Greg to cleanse his liver and his blood.  In the meantime, we are both showing up with random foods in our blood due to poor digestion (sensitivities).  (him just dairy and eggs, me- eggs, dairy, gluten and fish/shellfish)

James' liver actually looked quite good, which was really good to hear.  We've been working on his for probably 5 years now (off and on), although he still had gluten and dairy in his blood.  He also showed formaldehyde in his blood from stuffed animals (she just recommended washing them multiple times to reduce exposure).  He also showed low immunity, for which she recommended echinacea and probiotics.  Elise showed up highly sensitive to gluten.  As in almost-Celiac level.  And that she had low iron (solved by 1/4 c. raisins each day for a couple weeks).  

When we got home, I started with the diet.  Eliminating all those things seemed impossible, but somehow we're managing most of the time.  Back to meat and vegetables.  A few nuts and grains too. Gluten-free products in limited amounts (these are mostly nutrient poor, so I'm not too keen on just replacing bad grains with "good" ones, but they have helped fill in the gaps).  We can all do goat milk, but to avoid all other dairy.   I have been allowing milk kefir too, as it's cultured and we can really use the probiotics offered.

Then I planned on how to do the cleansing.  Since I'm a nursing mama, all the cleanses have to be safe for baby too.  So slow and steady is better than fast and intense.  When I asked the Herbalist about cleansing, she said that breast milk is the 5th way of elimination for a body, so is only used when the other 4 channels of elimination (skin, bowels, urinary tract and lymph system) are clogged and/or not working.  If the other systems are working well, then detoxing while nursing is no problem.   

One of the herbal tinctures I already had James on is great for livers.  It's technically a digestive bitter, but offers liver assistance overall.  I bought the kind that is "Mama friendly" (so it would be gentler for kids), and so I just started the rest of us taking it too.  It's called Liver Glow II from Mountain Meadow Herbs.  It's kind of spicy but a good flavor too, so the kids and I each take some before each meal.  It's easier than pills with kids too, as it's fun to drip the drops into their mouths.  This promotes more stomach juices so that your food digests better overall and you get more nutrients from your food.  It also has milk thistle in it which is a great liver protector.

I'm also taking Mountain Meadow Herbs Olive Leaf Extract which is great for Candida yeast and parasites and is also Mommy friendly.  You time this with the moon cycles to get the best remedies for parasite killing.  For Greg she wanted him also on Red Clover or Burdock Root to cleanse his blood.  I bought some pills for him since he takes them to work and it's easier for him to do pills.  I also have him on Milk Thistle/Dandelion/Turmeric for his liver.  We are also trying to do fresh juices more often (at least twice each week, although more would be even better) and eating more cabbage, beets, other cruciferous vegetables too.  We also buy Green Goodness for the days when I can't make fresh juice.  It's available at most grocery stores.  I have been drinking Teecino's Dandelion Tea each day too.  It's full of stuff to cleanse your liver and tastes almost like coffee. It has carob and chicory in it which are great for the liver too.  Another thing to add is this, if you're bowels aren't working up to par, it doesn't do much good to cleanse your liver.  You will just reabsorb the toxins before they can be eliminated.  So, adding in some colon cleansing foods/supplements can really help get you cleaned out.  Psyllium husks are an easy thing to add in as fiber to help move things along.  Apple pectin is another (or just eat 2 apples each day).  Make sure you're drinking enough water too, as these are both fibers that absorb water in your colon and help eliminate toxins.  Not enough water will cause you more problems than you started with!

I'm going to write my next post all about the liver, as it gets rather lengthy.  I just keep on a-learning all kinds of new information.  The geek in me is fascinated by our body and how it works.  And how God made so many wonderful things to heal it!

CSA experience

This summer we finally signed up for local, organic produce from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for the summer.  I have been hesitant to do so in the past, mostly due to upfront costs.  But, when I actually calculated what we normally spend at the grocery store for produce, it worked out cheaper per week for fresh-off-the-farm produce.

The downside of this was (if you can even call it that) was the randomness of the produce received.  I'm totally into trying new things, but having new vegetables each week, some of which I could not figure out how to eat together proved rather challenging for my already full brain.  One night we had taco salad with a side of roasted zucchini (because there was far too much zucchini to just add to the salad).  Another night we had chicken curry (full of veggies) with a side of Greek salad.  Often we did just meal salads and threw whatever we had onto it (my favorite, easiest option).  We had a ton of tomatoes, which I eventually just ended up dicing and freezing these last few weeks.  The only weird vegetable we got was kohlrabi, which is kind of like a cabbage/jicama mixed.  I shredded it for coleslaw one time and roasted it another.  Just kind of a plain old vegetable!  We got plenty of peppers which made me happy.  The variety we got looked like a hot pepper (red Anaheim or something, I'm no pepper expert) but tasted like a really good red bell pepper.  We ate those almost every day.  We should be full of vitamin C!

We always got lots of vegetables with at least 1 fruit.   Then I would just stop at a local produce stand and buy a bit more local fruit that was in season at the time and called it good.  The kids have fruit for a snack every day when quiet time is over (4 p.m.), so have taken to calling it "Fruit Time".  Must have fruit for fruit time!

Our garden did well, but in keeping with the reality of what I can actually accomplish on a having-a-baby year, we kept it pretty small.  Just enough to supplement our other produce, not enough to can or freeze though.  We plan on expanding our small space (it's maybe 12' square now) this fall, so that it'll be ready for next summer.  We're still doing the Back to Eden style, so we have to get our compost (leftover scraps and chicken manure) down and then cover with wood chips for the winter and in the spring it should be good to go.

All in all, a good experience which we plan to repeat next summer.  If you would like to find a CSA near you, they can be found at http://www.localharvest.org