human embryos used in vaccines?

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/10/this-shocking-fact-is-never-disclosed-on-any-vaccine-informed-consent-form.aspx?e_cid=20110710_SNL_Art_N

read that article and be informed.

Beyond organic

 www.beyondorganicinsider.com/becomeaninsider.aspx?enroller=27941

This is a link towards a company that will be launched in fall of 2011. It provides organic foods-such as grass-fed meat which is better for you.

Spring water-because our water most likely contains pesticides.

It might be an opportunity for you to sell the healthy products.  If you choose to.

Or you might want to order these products for your family as you pursue a healthy lifestyle (you can start in the fall)

check it out

 www.beyondorganicinsider.com/becomeaninsider.aspx?enroller=27941

The founder will be in NY on July 21 (I am planning on attending)

details: Thursday, July 21, 2011 from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (ET)

New York City Live Event!
420 West 14th Street Suite 6 NE
New York, NY 

maybe you will hear some valuable health tips.

you need a healthy lifestyle not a diet.

One of my goals is to be healthy. To eat healthy raw, organic, whole foods. Maybe by God's grace to own land with crops. (I can be healthy and my community)

breast feeding and bonding plus a rise natural birth

www.mercola.com

Breast milk may be tremendously important to mother-baby bonding. New research shows that breast-feeding mothers are more likely than formula-feeding moms to bond with their infants, and also demonstrate stronger brain responses when they hear their baby cry.

Researchers divided a group of new mothers into breast-feeders and formula-feeders, and performed functional MRIs (fMRI) on them about a month after their babies were born. Although all the mothers' brains became more active when listening to their own baby's cry, the changes in the breast-feeding mothers' relevant brain regions were much greater.

Time Magazine reports:

“The study, which the researchers say is the first to link brain activity with maternal behavior, is likely to reinforce the convictions of breast-feeding mothers that they're doing right by their babies”.

Sources:

  Time Magazine May 20, 2011 

  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry April 18, 2011; [Epub ahead of print] 

  Medical News Today May 30, 2011 

  Pediatrics May 29, 2011 [Epub ahead of print] 

  Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care May 20, 2011 [Epub ahead of print] 

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Breastfeeding is the least expensive and most effective way to improve and protect your baby's health, and now a first-of-its-kind study also suggests that breastfeeding may have a direct impact on a mother's brain, promoting 'maternal behavior' and increasing emotional bonding between the mother and child.

This is not altogether surprising, since breastfeeding promotes the increased release of oxytocin, also known as the "love hormone," or "bonding hormone."

Breastfeeding Alters Your Brain Activity

Still, it's interesting to note the changes in brain activity observed in breastfeeding moms. The results were published in the April issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and the researchers suggest that breastfeeding may be "the secret" that strengthens mother-baby bonding.

The Yale University researchers divided mothers into two groups:

1. Nine breast-feeders
2. Eight formula-feeders

About one month after giving birth, the mothers underwent functional MRIs (fMRI) while listening to audio clips of their own baby, and an unknown baby, crying. While all of the mothers' brains became more active when listening to their own baby's cry, the breastfeeding mothers displayed more significant activity in relevant brain regions.

Whether or not this is directly related to increased oxytocin levels, or whether some other mechanism is at play is still unknown. But it can be worthwhile to take this information into consideration if you're still on the fence about breastfeeding, or perhaps if you're concerned about being able to successfully bond with your baby whether breastfeeding, or not.

The Many Health Benefits of Breastfeeding—For Both Mother and Child

Aside from promoting stronger emotional bonding, breastfeeding offers a long list of life-long health benefits, not just for the child, but for the mother as well.

Studies have shown that breastfed babies gain added protection against:

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)	Eczema	Respiratory- and other types of infections
Heart disease	Obesity	Type 1 and type 2 diabetes
Bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease	Asthma and allergies	Necrotizing enterocolitis among premature babies

Breastfeeding can also help promote cognitive development in your child. It also benefits the mother in several ways, including:

Enhancing maternal behavior through increased oxytocin release	"Natural birth control," as it suppresses ovulation, making pregnancy less likely	Diabetic mothers typically require less insulin
Easier weight loss	Reducing your risk of endometrial-, ovarian- and breast cancers	Reducing your risk of metabolic syndrome

Breastfeeding More Successful with Proper Maternity Leave

A recent article in Medical News Today brings up a related and important point in terms of what can help make breastfeeding more successful, and that is extended maternity leave.

Ideally, you'll want to breastfeed your baby for at least six months, but this can be tricky if you have to return to work after a few short weeks of maternity leave.  An article in the journal Pediatrics, published last month, points out that national breastfeeding rates in the US still fall short of the "Healthy People 2010" goals.

Of the women who had at least 13 weeks maternity leave, just over 74 percent started breastfeeding. Meanwhile, the breastfeeding rate dropped by nearly 10 percent for women who only had one to six weeks maternity leave. Those with longer maternity leave also had the highest ratio of babies still breastfeeding at three months of age.

The authors concluded:

"If new mothers delay their time of return to work, then duration of breastfeeding among US mothers may lengthen."

One answer to increase breastfeeding rates would be to extend the Family and Medical Leave Act, which is the recommendation of the study's authors. American women are currently entitled to 12 weeks unpaid leave after giving birth, according to the US Family Leave and Medical Act. However, this federal law does not apply to many women who work for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, as they only have to offer this benefit to women who have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours in the preceding 12 months.

For comparison:

• Swedish mothers get 16 months maternity leave at 80 percent pay
• Japanese women receive 14 weeks leave at 66 percent pay, and
• Canadians get 17 weeks off at 55 percent of their regular salary

Since American law does not require the employer to pay a percentage of a woman's salary during maternity leave, taking extra time off is a financial impossibility for many families. While there's no easy answer to that dilemma (barring legislative changes), if you canafford it, it may be well worth considering...

Is Home Birth Right for You?

In related news, home births are now at the highest level since 1990, and this could be a beneficial trend to help increase breastfeeding rates.

While there are multiple reasons for this trend, I see it as a sign that more families are now starting to take back control of their health, and that of their offspring. Patient-doctor trust is wearing thin these days, as conflicts of interest are becoming increasingly obvious, and more people are looking for low intervention birthing options. Many parents also want to return to a more soothing and natural way of greeting their child into the world, and opt to avoid immediate vaccinations.

As an added benefit, home births are also less expensive, costing about one-third of a hospital birth.

According to a recently published study in the journal Birth, the number of American women delivering their babies at home increased by a healthy 20 percent between 2004 and 2008.   The primary thrust behind this change is attributed to white women increasingly opting to give birth at home—Caucasians accounted for 94 percent of the increase.

Which is Safer—Home Births or Hospital Births?

There's much controversy over this issue. Some studies have concluded that hospital births are safer, and many women are still dissuaded by their obstetricians to pursue a home birth.

But is all that worry warranted?

An interesting review of the evidence was published back in 2003, which shatters many of these concerns.

Published in the journal Birth, the authors criticize the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for sensationalizing negative studies; one in particular alleged to have found that home births doubled the risk of newborn death. However, upon more careful review, the study in question contained "numerous flaws and limitations," and "could not be used" to make an informed decision about whether or not women should be discouraged from opting for home birth.

The review reads, in part:

"... The authors noted "controversy" in literature concerning the safety of home deliveries, but cited only 4 studies that they claim support their findings of increased risk of neonatal mortality and adverse outcomes. They failed to mention or discuss findings from the bulk of the recent national and international literature, which concluded that planned home birth is a safe and reasonable option. More importantly, they misrepresented the literature that they did cite. Even a cursory examination of those studies revealed that two of them included both low- and high-risk women in the home birth group.

... [R]eviewing controlled trials in Europe, Springer and Van Weel concluded that planned home birth is "safe in selected women and with adequate infrastructure and support". In the United States, Murphy and Fullerton concluded, "home birth can be accomplished with good outcomes under the care of qualified practitioners and within a system that facilitates transfer to hospital care when necessary."

The authors also point out that:

"... Recently, a policy statement by the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association concluded that "Births to healthy mothers, who are not considered at medical risk after comprehensive screening by trained professionals, can occur safely in various settings, including out-of-hospital birth centers and homes."

High-risk pregnancies that are typically not good candidates for home birth include women who are:

• Over the age of 40
• Obese (weighing over 300 pounds)
• Hypertensive
• Diabetic

The review concludes with the following advice:

"... Each year in the United States more than 25,000 women choose to deliver at home. It is time for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to recognize that the evidence calls for improvements in the provision of out-of-hospital services, rather than their elimination, and to provide leadership in ensuring adequate infrastructure and support for those women choosing home birth.

 It is time for national funding groups, government health agencies, and editorials to support investigations on the models of care that produce optimal outcomes across birth sites."

And:

"... When the findings of a new study disagree with copious evidence from high-quality trials, the study methodology and interpretation must be examined closely."

Hopefully this level-headed review of the evidence will help put your mind at ease. Because while there's no way to completely eliminate all risk inherent with childbirth, there's actually very little evidence to indicate that giving birth at home with a well-qualified birthing professional is riskier than giving birth in a hospital, as long as you're in good health, and have a normal, low-risk pregnancy. On the contrary, it may actually be safer. And the added benefits can be great.

Help for Moms Who Can't Breastfeed

Ideally you should strive to breastfeed your baby exclusively for the first six months, and only then begin to supplement with solid foods(while still continuing to breastfeed as well). If you're having trouble breastfeeding, Le Leche League is a terrific resource to contact for help.

However, if you're unable to breastfeed for any reason, please steer clear of commercial infant formulas as much as possible and definitely avoid all soy infant formula. The next best alternative to breast milk is to make a healthy homemade infant formula using this recipe.

Related Links:

  Seven Reasons to Breastfeed Your Child That You Need to Know 

  Breastfeeding Best for Mothers as Well as Infants 

  Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important 

Mercola on Jucing

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/02/cherie-calbom-on-juicing-part-1.aspx

Juicing is a very powerful tool that you can use to accelerate your progress towards optimal health. Virtually every health authority, even conventional doctors, recommend 6-8 servings of vegetables and fruits per day but very few of us actually get that. In my life I have found that juicing is a simple and easy way to virtually guarantee that you will reach your daily target for vegetables.

I first became excited about juicing when I was in practice and treated a patient who was in her 60s or maybe even 70s but looked like she was in her 40s. She attributed most of her youthful appearance to juicing.  I decided to try it and have been juicing more or less regularly ever since. I typically juice every day and consume from a pint to a quart of green juice daily.

Reasons to Juice

There are three main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating vegetable juicing into your optimal health program:

1. Juicing helps you absorb most of the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body's ability to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to "pre-digest" them for you, so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than having it go down the toilet.
2. Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. If you are a carb type, you should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. Some people may find eating that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.
3. You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.

Natural Family planning

How many of you actually know how your female reproductive system works? You get your period every month but what is it? What is ovulation?

You period is when your .....lining that forms in the uterus breaks down. Have you taught about charting your fertility cycle, etc? 
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/29/using-birth-control-pills-alters-womens-mate-preferences.aspx

www.gardenoffertility.com

Many women opt for hormonal contraceptives because they're unaware of the other effective birth control methods out there. The following options, which include both natural family planning and barrier methods, are effective ways to prevent pregnancy without damaging your health.

• Male condoms: Condoms have a 98 percent effectiveness rate when used correctly. A water-based lubricant will increase the effectiveness; do not use an oil-based lubricant, however, as they break the latex.
• Female condoms: These thin, soft polyurethane pouches fitted inside the vagina before sex are 95 percent effective. Female condoms are less likely to tear than male condoms.
• Diaphragm: Diaphragms, which must be fitted by a doctor, act as a barrier to sperm. When used correctly with spermicidal jellies, they are 92 to 98 percent effective.
• Cervical cap: This heavy rubber cap fits tightly against the cervix and can be left in place for 48 hours. Like the diaphragm, a doctor must fit the cap. Proper fitting enhances the effectiveness above 91 percent.
• Cervical sponges: The sponge, made of polyurethane foam, is moistened with water and inserted into the vagina prior to sex. It works as a barrier between sperm and the cervix, both trapping and absorbing sperm and releasing a spermicide to kill them. It can be left in for up to 24 hours at a time. When used correctly, the sponge is about 89-91 percent effective.

Aside from these barrier methods, there are also natural family planning (NFP) tools that a woman can use to track her ovulation. Many women feel empowered by NFP because it allows them to get in touch with their fertility cycle.

Some of the most popular NFP methods include:

• Calendar Method: Abstention from sex during the week the woman is ovulating. This technique works best when a woman's menstrual cycle is very regular. However, it may not work very well for couples who use it as the sole means of contraception, as its success rate is only around 75 percent. You can boost its effectiveness by combining it with the temperature and mucus methods described below.
• The Temperature Method: This is a way to pinpoint the day of ovulation so that sex can be avoided for a few days before and after. It involves taking your basal body temperature (your temperature upon first waking) each morning with an accurate "basal" thermometer, and noting the rise in temperature that occurs after ovulation.
  
  Beware that illness or lack of sleep can change your body temperature and make this method unreliable by itself, but when it is combined with the mucus method, it can be an accurate way of assessing fertility. The two methods combined can have a success rate as high as 98 percent.
• The Mucus Method: This involves tracking changes in the amount and texture of vaginal discharge, which reflect rising levels of estrogen in your body. For the first few days after your period, there is often no discharge, but there will be a cloudy, tacky mucus as estrogen starts to rise. When the discharge starts to increase in volume and becomes clear and stringy, ovulation is near. A return to the tacky, cloudy mucus or no discharge means that ovulation has passed.

As you can see, there are many alternatives to the Pill and other hormonal contraceptives out there, and my advice to women is to seriously evaluate the risks versus benefits before taking any type of birth control pills.

Recommended Reading

I encourage you to become actively involved in fertility awareness, and embrace natural family planning or barrier methods that will not interfere with your hormones and health.

Some excellent reading to get you started on this path include:

1. The Ovulation Method: Natural Family Planning, by John J. Billings
2. Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health, by Toni Weschler
3. Honoring Our Cycles: A Natural Family Planning Workbook, by Katie Singer

I am learning not to burn the pot. ya dig!

I tried baking banana bread.  I baked a Trinidadian (Trinidad and Tobago) fry bake.
                                             Banana Bread (recipe on the back of the Gold Medal Flour pack)

                                            (I found this recipe online) I broke it down to make just a little.
                                            I used the spoon to stir the flour and I tried to kneed the dough as best as I can)

                                           Bon appetti  !!! (I think)

I am learning to cook by trying out different recipes online. I would love to have a family one day.  (Hope I will be excellent in the kitchen and not burning the pots before then)

Discovering the Joys of juicing

I tried juicing today.  I juiced some zucchini aka cucumber. It is apparently helps to grow hair.  I juiced one beat, carrot, and an apple. Fun fun Fun.  I hope to inspire people in their youth, twenties, and older age to love juicing. To be proactive about health and eating right.  (It's cool to take care of your body and optimize your health)

My brother loved the beats,carrot, and apple combo.