This article is for you to look back at when you need a reason to continue eating healthy, even if you’re not seeing the health results you hope for. It’s for when you are wondering “why am I bothering?”  So how does the Nutritional Balancing diet I customly design through NW Holistic Nutrition address the concerns of your liver?  Not only is your targeted supplement plan providing you with vital nutrients to rebuild the liver and support its detoxification processes, but the foods we recommend most (lightly cooked veggies!) contain numerous compounds that nourish the liver.

According to Dr. Ann-Louise Gittleman, “One of your liver’s most important functions, and the one most crucial to your weight loss, is breaking down everything that enters your body, from the healthiest bite of organic food to the poisonous pesticides that linger on your salad….it is your liver’s job to distinguish between the nutrients you need to absorb and the toxins that must be filtered out of your bloodstream.”  She goes on to mention that any kind of medication produces extra stress on the liver.

What are some signs of liver stress? 

*elevated liver enzymes
*depression, particularly unassociated with life events
*tendency to wake up between 1 am and 3 am
*loss of appetite
*pain under the right shoulder blade
*excessive, unexplained, or sudden bursts of anger, irritability, or rage
*hemorrhoids or varicose veins
*acne, blemishes, or itchy rashes

The list goes on, but that is a short list of the various signs of liver stress. If you have been on a what you consider a healthy diet for a while and still continue to experience these symptoms, please consider how closely you are following the recommended diet (including eating organic as much as possible)?, taking prescription drugs?, consuming caffeine and/or alcohol? Taking measures to reduce stress (including environmental toxins such as cosmetics, etc.)?   Those are the first things to self-assess.

  It’s also important to keep in mind that it can take a long time for full liver regeneration to occur, and that being patient with yourself and loving to your liver is very important!

Thankfully, diet is one of the things we usually can control the easiest.  The first thing to do is to get the junk out!  Throw away the indiscretions and realize that they are hindering your body’s ability to detoxify. It’s not that I want to deprive you of your coffee or your banana, it’s that these things inhibit the body’s ability to detoxify.  Other detox “detractors” include:

• excess fat such as hydrogenated oils, margerines, etc.
• sugar and all of its relatives including honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, fructose, dextrose, etc.
• artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and sugar alcohols
• refined carbohydrates including white rice and products made with white flour
• gluten
• soy protein isolates
• alcohol, OTC drugs, caffeine, and chocolate
• mold as found on ripe tropical fruits such as mangos, bananas, and melons.

All of the above foods either lower enzyme activity during phase 1 and phase 2 detox (thus interrupting the liver’s ability to transform toxins into nontoxic metabolites) or they contribute to decreased absorption of the nutrients your liver needs in order to do its job.

So what are the best foods for loving your liver?

Group 1: The Crucifers: Strive to eat at least one large cooked serving of these foods each day:

Cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, or broccoli sprouts

Group 2: Leafy Greens: Strive to eat at least one large cooked serving of these very nutritious foods per day:

Kale, watercress, chard, beet greens, collards, escarole, dandelion, or mustard greens

Group 3: Sulfur-Rich Foods:  Strive for at least one serving of each per day:

garlic (at least 1 clove), onions (1/2 cup cooked), eggs (2 per day), daikon radish (1/4 cup sliced)

Group 4: The Liver Healers:  Strive to include at least 1 serving of these foods per day:

Artichoke (1 small or 4 hearts, cooked), asparagus (1/2 cup cooked), beets (1/2 cup cooked), celery (2 medium stalks), dandelion root tea (1-2 cups), a good-quality whey (I can only recommend one commercial brand, and that is the Fat Flush whey because it is 100% grass-fed and low-temperature dried), and Lewis Labs nutritional yeast powder (1-2 teaspoons).

Other fabulous foods for the liver include flesh protein from sardines (skin and bones and all are the absolute best, and canned is fine), grass-fed beef, lamb, vension, chicken, or turkey, and organic, raw, grass-fed dairy.

                 Keeping a food journal to track which liver-loving foods you are eating can be very helpful as well.  Your weekly shopping list can even be broken up into the groups of foods mentioned above!If you would like some help in creating a personalized meal plans that include the therapeutic, liver-healing foods listed above that are also kid-friendly, I offer personalized meal planning services that fit your life!  Please inquire by writing to me at carriethienes [at] nwholisticnutrition [dot] com.                 

We all have times when we stray away from motivation to keep our diets “clean”, particularly around holidays when temptations abound.  The good news is that your body is always ready to continue its work when you are!  So if you are feeling a bit “sluggish”, it might be a sign that your liver needs a little more attention and intention!   Besides, what could be more organic and thrifty than taking care of the most important organ in your body?  I see it every day in my practice: healthy livers, healthy bodies!

Thanks for reading!

Carrie

In my experience as a nutritional therapist (and in my own experience as a mother) I have seen overwhelming clinical evidence to support the hypothesis that the diets we begin with set the stage for our health for the rest of our lives.  There is one common thread among all of my most chronically ill clients.  They were all fed formula as children, and started on first foods that were nutrient depleted, which set the stage for all kinds of metabolism problems throughout the childhood and teen years.

Now, I will be the first to tell you that just because you cannot breastfeed, it doesn’t mean you can’t undo the damage caused by formula.  First of all, you can switch your baby from commercial formula to a homemade raw goat’s milk formula that is highly nutritious, easier to digest, and full of live probiotics and enzymes that the body needs (of which commercial formula is devoid).  You can read about my son’s amazing story with raw goat’s milk formula.  I plan to blog more about the goat’s milk formula and FAQs related to that very soon, as I get several e-mails a week related to that!

If circumstances prevent you from making your own formula, that’s okay too.  My daughter (who is older than Jonathan) was on commercial formula for a year and unfortunately I didn’t know any other alternative at the time.  While we did have to really do a lot of work to reverse the effects on her digestive system, (thank you LORD for the GAPS diet and Nutritional Balancing), after 5 years we are finally seeing some really great results and improvements.   So there is ALWAYS hope, and kids can turn around fast.  But I believe that the window of time is critical because once puberty and adolescence hits, the nutritional deficiencies can really begin to manifest. 

So, what can one do right now to begin to nourish the body and get off to a great start, regardless of whether you were able to give your child commercial formula, homemade, or breastmilk?

First of all, it’s vitally important to understand that all children are born fast oxidizers.  The oxidation rate explains the metabolism, and since babies are growing so fast, they demand lots of fats in the diet.  Breastmilk (ideally, although not all breastmilk is the same quality) has the ideal proportion of fats, carbohydrates, and protein.  In an ideal world, if we could breastfeed, we would keep kids on breastmilk for as long as possible (up to 3 years or more) since it is the perfect food, and it changes and adjusts to perfectly suit the child.  If you can do this, that is GREAT.  Do whatever you can to nurse as long as possible.

Unfortunately, for many of you who find your way to my blog, you were unable to breastfeed for very long if at all, and so this is simply not an option.  And I totally understand and grieve with you about this.  But God was able to turn my grief of not being able to fully breastfeed my kids into a passion.  He lead me down a path that showed me that yes, you CAN nourish your children, NO MATTER WHAT!!!  But the reality is, we need to be serious about working against a nutritional deficit because, let’s face it, breastmilk is best.  But I’m here to tell you that you CAN have vibrantly healthy children who have not been able to be fully breastfeed!  My kids are living proof!  (And obviously, there is more to nourishment than food.  Your love, your intention, and the low-stress environment you can create for your children goes a LONG way towards their healing and nourishment!)

Before we go further, I want to demystify the “Nourishing My Kids is Too Expensive” excuse.  I want to encourage you to be creative and to be a good steward of your finances, and stewardship means first and formost, providing your children and family with nourishing foods.  Sacrifices do need to be made for this to happen.  Americans pay the smallest percentage of their income on food.  Around the world, many people live to eat.  If you think about it, the earliest Nomads and Native peoples of every culture built their lives around nourishment.  That doesn’t mean you “worship your stomach” or make an “idol out of food”.  God is the giver of all good things.  Food is one of those things.  Sacrificing–whatever that means for you, whether it’s growing more of your own food, or spending more money on organic produce or raw milk and living with a smaller house or less of a wardrobe– is a gift of love for your family. That is what life is all about.  Sacrifical love.  We offer these things on the alter of our lives. 

Obviously we can take this too far and we can be tempted to make an idol out of food.  But nourishing our children and families doesn’t have to be expensive. 

{Forgive me as I switch gears again.}

Understanding your babies metabolism will help you be guided towards the right choices.

Obviously babies are growing and developing at a rapid rate and need food throughout the day.  AGAIN, I will state clearly that breastmilk is best and ideally all that is needed for the first 2 years of life, IDEALLY.  So my recommendations here are to augment a diet that consists mainly of breastmilk OR a quality homemade formula or simply raw milk. 

{Ok, I need to digress again real quick:}

Why do I emphasize raw milk so much?  Pastuerized milk is basically not even a food, in my opinion.  Here are the top 3 reasons why not to even bother with it:

1) Pasteurization denatures the proteins making them unrecognizable to the body and therefore potentially allergy-producing.

2) Homogenization and pasteurization oxidizes the fats making them very unhealthy.

3) Pasteurization kills the live probiotics and enzymes (such as lactase) that allows the body to self-digest the proteins and sugars in the milk, causing more stress on the body.

There are other reasons, of course, like the Vitamin A Palmitate and Vitmin D2 that is added to the milk.  The problems with pasteurization are beyond the scope of this article. But you can read all about the TRUTH about raw milk on the Real Milk website.

Bottom line? If you want to feed your children milk, look into finding a good raw source.  Most all raw dairy farms are small scale operations, and they take utmost care because they know their customers (who all buy farm-direct) will trace any problems directly back to them.  Farmers know they have an obligation to use the cleanest practices for their customers.  All the farmers that I know (and I do know a few!) drink the milk themselves.  Never buy from a farmer who won’t drink his own milk raw!  Our family has been drinking raw milk for over 3 years now and there has never been a single problem in terms of “food poisoning”.  I even purchased my own milking goats last spring because I realized that it would be more economical for me (and a friend who I partnered with) to just milk our own, and it’s not that difficult to keep it clean and sanitary.  So I don’t merely say this as a customer. I say this as a dairy goat “farmer” myself!!!!

{OK, step off soapbox}

So with breastmilk or a good raw milk formula as a foundation, how do we augment an older baby/toddler’s diet?

When to start solid foods really varies based on the individual baby.  A good rule of thumb is that when you sense your older baby (6 months +) just needs something “more” shortly after a feeding, then it might be time to introduce solid foods, if well tolerated.

1. First of all, with FAT.  Here are some great finger foods you can provide for your child:

*Chunks of grass-fed butter cut into little bit sized pieces. (Kerrygold is grassfed, and is cheapest at Trader Joe’s…you can follow that link to see what I love and hate about TJ’s!)

*Mashed ripe avocado.

*Full-fat, plain, whole milk yogurt.  Trader Joe’s organic European style yogurt is great. 

*Full-fat, plain kefir (you can read all about this on my Kefir for Kids post!)

*Sardines (this are full of great omega-3 fats.  If you get them introduced to these early, they will love them!) You can mash them and mix them with a good quality sour cream and make it more of a puree.

*Steamed and pureed veggies (green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes) mixed with a little cream or butter.

*Pureed liver pate (BUT ONLY ONLY ONLY if you can get really good, organic livers from a trusted source).

*Fish eggs (roe or caviar).  Good luck finding these; online mail order is your best bet.  Fish roe is nutrient density at its core, and you can fine affordable caviar, believe it or not.  These are full of brain-building nutrients and were prized by traditional cultures for growing children and pregnant and nursing mothers.  You can purchased Dried Tuna Roe and use it as a condiment to sprinkle on dishes in place of salt.  Or you can serve fresh salmon roe (an affordable choice from Marky’s Caviar online)  Remember that nutrient density is the key. It’s quality, not quantity. So you don’t need a lot of it!

*Egg yolks from pastured, free-range hens.  The yolks should be soft-cooked so as to enhance digestion.

*Meats: Dark meats are best, as they contain the most fats, vitamins, and minerals.  And the good news is that thighs and drumsticks are the cheapest usually!  A nice, tender pot roast or lamb roast is also great.  I do not recommend pork products, as they can harbor parisites even when cooked.

But what about cereals, crackers, and juices? 

I do not believe that these have a place in a young babies diet.  First of all, babies do not produce salivary amylase (the enzyme responsible for digesting starches) until they have their 2 year molars.  Crackers and cereals (even Cheerios) are mostly full of refined flour, and are “enriched” with vitamins that are not the most bioavailable.  They are an unbalanced food and are not suitable for fast oxidizers at all. They don’t really nourish and are certainly not nutrient-dense. It’s like heating the house with paper instead of logs. It works, sort of, but eventually it gets very inefficient, and over time can really unbalance the body nutritionally. 

Juices are way too sugary and really serve no purpose in the diet either. If necessary, you can add a little to “flavor” plain water if your child has already been introduced to juice.  Fresh vegetable juice like carrot juice, on the other hand, is a great choice for little ones; about 3-4 oz. per day.  Unfortunately, babies lack the ability to really convert much of the beta-carotene in carrots into a usable form, but carrot juice is a good source of bioavailable calcium.

What about fruit?

Yes, this is the most difficult one to give up.  I believe that fruit is God’s candy, and we should view it as candy.  Feed it to your baby as much as you would feed your baby candy.  If you would not feed your baby candy, then don’t feed fruit.  Yes, fruit is way more nutritious than candy in terms of minerals, but most modern fruit is full of sugar and should still be consumed in moderation.  Unfortunately, fruits do not contain body-building nutrients and therefore, for optimal health, should be given as a dessert and in moderation.  Fruits obviously are amazing gifts from God, full of enzymes and nutrients. Please don’t misunderstand.  But I believe fruit should be eaten in season and in moderation as a treat after all of the more nutrient-dense foods have been consumed.

Obviously, I take a pretty firm stand in a lot of ways on childhood nutrition.  If what I’m saying totally doesn’t work for you, then that’s totally fine. I don’t judge you. I am simply sharing what I have observed from both personal and clinical experience, as will as through my nutritional studies.  For some additional information that goes much deeper into the Foundation of My Children’s Nutrition Philosophy, you may visit the Weston A Price Foundation Website’s Feeding Babies and Children section and also the website of Dr. Larry Wilson, MD, who has worked with many children and families over the past 30 years developing scientific nutritional programs based on the above dietary principles:  Dr. Wilson’s Article on Feeding Children and Babies.

If you would like to begin to make changes but need some more personalized guidance in this journey, I offer an extremely discounted package for babies. I have such a heart for helping babies (especially those of the dear mamas who tried hard to breastfeed, but couldn’t) get on the right start nutritionally, and I use hair analysis to put together a specific nutritional program to balance your child’s physiology and offer support with meal suggestions and general moral support.  Please inquire by e-mailing carriethienes [at] nwholisticnutrition [dot] com with the Subject Heading “Baby Nutrition”.

Smile! YOU CAN DO THIS.  You are not alone, and you will find help in this journey, and the answers will come when we seek them out of love for our children.  This has been my experience, and may you be blessed in your journey to nourish your family in an organic and thrifty way!

To downoad a $1 off coupon for Udi’s Bread, visit Udi’s Website.  Then go buy some bread for your gluten-free Thanksgiving guests. They will humbly weep and thank you profusely. I promise.  No pressure, Nanna.

Here is an update from the Weston A. Price foundation, an amazing “watchdog” and protector of small farms who are producing food the “right” way (organic, biodynamic, pasture-raised, etc.):

UDATE ON FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION

Agribusiness shows its true colors!

Last week, the Senate voted 74-25 to move to consideration of S.510, the Food Safety Modernization Act.  After thirty hours of debate and behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Senators released a final Managers Amendment that includes a compromise version of the Tester-Hagan amendment.  Thank you to all our members who have called and written over the last several months to help protect local foods!

But even though an agreement was reached on the Tester-Hagan amendment last week, the issue is still not over.  The final vote on the bill has been delayed until Monday, November 29, due to disagreements over amendments relating to the health care bill and a ban on earmarks.  And, in the meantime, Agribusiness has shown its true colors.

For over a year, the big Agribusiness trade organizations have supported passage of S.510.  From Agribusinesss perspective, the bill was a win-win: they could absorb the costs of the regulations because of their size; theyd gain good PR for supposedly improving food safety practices; and the competition created by local food producers, which is rapidly growing, would be crushed by the regulatory burdens.

This was only speculation until now.  But when the Senators agreed to include the Tester-Hagan amendment in the bill, to exempt small-scale direct-marketing producers from some of the most burdensome provisions, twenty Agribusiness trade organizations fired off a letter stating that they would now oppose the bill.

The letter from the Agribusiness groups states: [B]y incorporating the Tester amendment in the bill, consumers will be left vulnerable to the gaping holes and uneven application of the law created by these exemptions. In addition, it sets an unfortunate precedent for future action on food safety policy by Congress that science and risk-based standards can be ignored.

http://www.unitedfresh.org/assets/files/Letter%20on%20Passage%20of%20S%20%20510%20and%20Tester%20Amendment.pdf

What science and risk?  No one has produced any data or evidence of any widespread problems caused by local producers and marketed directly to consumers.  All of the major foodborne illness outbreaks have been caused by products that went through the long supply chains of Agribusiness.

Agribusinesss real concern about the Tester-Hagan amendment isnt food safety, but the precedent set by having Congress recognize that small, direct-marketing producers are different, and should be regulated differently than large Agribusinesses.

Agribusiness is trying to convince the Senators to pull the Tester-Hagan amendment back out.  While the amendment is currently part of the Managers Package  the amended version of the bill agreed to by six bipartisan sponsors  nothing is certain until the actual vote.

ACTION TO TAKE

This Thanksgiving week, please take a moment to call or email your Senators to tell them to hold firm on KEEPING the Tester-Hagan amendment part of the bill. 

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or go to www.senate.gov to find their website (if the phone lines are busy, the best way to reach them is through the Contact Page on their website)

So here is my letter to Senator Merkley, urging him to retain the amendment. I urge you to take 5 minutes (copy, paste, and modify mine if you wish) to contact your Senators as well:

Dear Senators:

It has been very refreshing to see that you have voted to add the Tester-Hagen amaendment to the Food Safety Bill.  As a Nutritionist in Oregon and also an urban dairy goat farmer and avid gardener, it is important to me to be able to source fresh food from farm-to-table without compromise.  The small farms in Oregon have saved my family’s life, in that we are indebted to the fact that Oregon has allowed these farmers to grow their foods freely without immense and costly regulations.  I urge you, despite what the Agribusiness conglomerates want you to belive, to hold firm on KEEPING the Tester-Hagan amendment part of the bill. 

Thank you so much for your commitment to food safety.  It is important for the large suppliers to be subject to these regulations.  Spinach, hamburgers, peanut butter, and all the recent e.coli outbreaks have not come from small, local organic farms.  They have all been a result of the careless practices of agribusiness.  However, the small family farms that for generations have taken great pride in their product should NOT be subject to regulations that could potentially put them out of business.  Standards for food safety? Of course.  But when the consumer can trace their product back to a specific farm, that is motivation enough for the farm to enact high standards of quality control.  A family-owned, direct-marketing farm would not stay in business very long at all if its customers were constantly sick from contaminated food.

Meanwhile, the corrupt and under-regulated meat-packing, dairy, and large-scale conventional farm industries get away with gross abuses of their employees, their animals, and their land.  I think it’s clear where the real problem lies, and I thank you in advance for your committment to protecting the constitutional rights of every American to chose from whom they purchase their foods.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Carrie Thienes, BS, MA, NTP

When one thinks of Costco, one often conjures up images of party packs of Pizzas, insanely huge cakes, and industrial-size bags of cheetos.  But can Costco be a healthy, even Organic and Thrifty place to shop?

I am fortunate to live within walking distance to Costco, which allows me to limit my spending on large items.  I go weekly to Costco and pick up the items that our family eats on a regular basis and it ends up being a very thrifty place for me to shop.  The advantages to shopping at Costco are that Costco does strive to carry local products, and they are improving their selection of quality food offerings.

The downside to Costco is that you do have to pay an annual membership fee, the crowds are often unbearable, and the produce is not locally grown.

In my practice, I give my clients my “Nourishing Shopping Guide” with a breakdown of where to get the best deals on organic (or sustainably produced) foods.  This is the first in a series of posts I will share about the best deals I have found in local stores around the Portland, Oregon metro area.  I hope you find this applicable and helpful to your area as well!  Please note that in some cases, prices will vary!  These are my local prices!

Maranatha Almond Butter Locally produced in Ashland, Oregon, this naturally roasted almond butter is a great price for 16 oz at just over $5.00.

Organic, frozen green beans $5.45 This is a large, 5# bag of tender, french cut green beans. These cook up fast in the steamer or in a stir-fry, and make for an ultra-healthy dinner when paired with a quality protein.  I send a large pyrex full of frozen green beans topped with shredded Parmesan cheese with my husband to work many days and he loves this veggie-rich, delicious meal!

Organic, frozen green peas $5.29 This is another large, 5# bag (I believe!) that provides many meals for our family. We enjoy steamed peas with tiny pieces of turkey bacon as a delicious breakfast.  We also love steamed peas with melted butter and cheese as a delicious alternative to mac and cheese!

Organic, grass-fed beef Honestly, I’m not sure at the price per pound on this, but I think it’s around $3.99.  I am not aware as to whether or not this is grass-fed, or rather grass-finished beef, but certainly a step up from conventional beef!

New Zealand Lamb The prices vary here based on cuts. They offer a boneless leg of lamb, lamb chops, and french ribs.  The boneless leg of lamb is the best value, and for about $20 you can buy a boneless leg, roast it with some Dijon mustard and a bit of honey and garlic in the slow cooker, and easily have 4 meals for a family of 4 to stretch a week. 

Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese (grass-fed) $9.00 I know this looks expensive, but it’s a 2 # brick of delicious, nutrient-dense cheese. A great source of vitamins A and D, you don’t need much of these amazing cheese to satisfy you.  This brick of cheese lasts a long time if used sparingly as a flavor enhancer of a large veggie dish.  Great topper for steamed broccoli and cauliflower! Also a wonderful snack with some celery!

Organic, Free-Range Eggs  18 for $4.45 I don’t know about you, but this is a fantastic deal on organic free-range eggs in my book! Other than having my own chicken farm, that is!  I am not sure if these are really pastured or not, so these are certainly not my first choice, but they are a great buy if you’re looking for organic!

Organic carrots $4.99 I believe I’m right on the price here for a 10# bag. These are great for roasting or steaming up.  A very cheap, delicous veggie that is very versatile. I also like to shred these and mix with other veggies in a Chinese-inspired stir-fry.

Cut Broccoli $3.99 I believe this is a 2 or 3# bag. Since Broccoli has been shown to not contain pesticide residues and is rarely sprayed, I can buy conventional broccoli with a fairly clean conscience.  This makes serving fresh broccoli ultra simple. I just throw everything in my Electric Steamer and in 10-12 minutes I have cooked broccoli! 

Brussels Sprouts $4.49 I think this also comes in a 2# bag. These delicious nuggets of nutrition need only be sliced in half and thrown in the steamer and topped with melted butter, garlic, and shredded cheese for a delicious take on this once-unpopular vegetable.  We can easily get 2 or 3 meals out of this bag of sprouts as they are very filling and nourishing.  We call them “turtles” in our house!

Bolthouse Farms Organic Carrot Juice 3 Pack for $6.99 We go through 1 bottle of carrot juice a day in this household as we all drink about 5-10 oz. of carrot juice per day. Obviously if we had a juicer we could probably get our carrot juice cheaper, but I’ve chosen to simply buy 2 of these 3-packs per week. I serve it to the kids every morning in place of “orange juice”. It ensures a great dose of veggies with breakfast as well!

Organic Baby Spinach (fresh) $3.99 This Earthbound Farms classic is a must-buy organic, as spinach retains lots of pesticides and is very dirty if not organic.  These tender leaves are great sauteed into scrambled eggs or one of Kirsten’s Mini-Quiches!  Or just saute up a mound of these leaves with chopped, nitrate-free sausages for a quick meal!

Aidell’s nitrate-free sausages $12.00 for 12 Okay, so these are not the thriftiest looking, but if you use them correctly you can really make them stretch. I love using them in soups, or sliced and sauteed together with organic green beans or other veggies.  When you slice them up you can make 2 sausages stretch for 4 people easily. 
(There are several good brands of such sausages there!)

Greens to Go (in supplement section) Again, not sure on the cost here, but this is a nice little supplement that my kids (and others I know) really enjoy.  No sugar at all, only dehydrated green veggies including kale, broccoli, and wheat and barley grass.  Mix with water (or a bit of carrot juice and water) and you have 6 servings of veggies in one glass.  Obviously freshly cooked veggies are best, but these are great in a pinch and certainly better than juice.

Jenny-O nitrate-free turkey bacon Again, drawing a blank on the price here, but it’s nice to see that they finally have nitrate-free bacon!  We have transitioned pork products out of our diet, so we are enjoying turkey bacon again.  It’s great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! We like it chopped up with beans or peas.

Wild Alaskan Salmon 6 pack for $10.59, which is a great deal for wild salmon that tastes really delicious.  We love this mixed with a little yogurt and flax or olive oil and seasonings.  An awesome source of omega-3′s and a quick protein meal!

Fage rBST Free Greek Yogurt $5.79 for 1 Quart.  I felt that this was a good deal, since this is such a dense yogurt. One only needs a few scoops to pack in high amounts of protein. This is strained non fat yogurt, unfortuately, though. I sometimes buy it purely for the protein content, and it’s fine for slow oxidizers, but I keep waiting for our Costco to carry a good quality plain full fat organic yogurt.

Organic Butter, Kirkland Brand, 2 pack For around $5 you can get a two pack of organic butter, which we like well enoguh. We prefer Kerrygold all around, but the Organic Butter is great too!

These are a few of my favorite things.  I will likely add more as find more items I love to buy. But as you can see, I keep it pretty simple and fresh, and since we do very low grains I don’t actually take advantage of the other great deals like Organic Lundburg Rice and Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats.  I know there are other great deals at Costco.

What are your favorite Costco Deals?

So what are the symptoms of hypothyroidsim?  Fatigue, inability to lose weight, constipation, dry, brittle hair or nails, always feeling “cold”, depression, frequent infections, poor circulation in hands and feet, edema (swelling), and muscle cramps while at rest.  And while oftentimes, patients with a diagnosed hypothyroidism are prescribed hormones to replace the low output of the thyroid, this is often a band-aid solution at best, as it does not truly identify the mechanism by which the thyroid is malfunctioning.  Again, not the purpose of this article. A great book on this topic is by Dr. Datis Kharrazian, called Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests are Normal?

As a nutritional therapist, I work with many women who have functional hypothyroidism, which means that they exhibit symptoms of low thyroid function without necessarily having a clear diagnosis.  This is due in large part to adrenal stress, impaired digestion, mineral imbalances, and use of exogenous hormones.  All in all, this leads to a lowered metabolic rate, and therefore the “ideal foods” we often think about in the Real Food world (grass-fed beef, lots of cream and good fats, etc.) can actually be counter-productive if the woman has a slow oxidation rate. This is very common in post-partum women as well. 

The hypothyroid state is one of slowed digestion, lower body temperature, and oftentimes, decreased cellular permeability.  Therefore ,many women benefit from eating foods that are not only nutrient-dense, but simple to digest, and which also have a “warming” effect on the body.  Raw food diets, while certainly appropriate for certain times and situations, may not be the most helpful in hypothyroidism.  Because of the sluggish metabolism induced by hypothyroidism, eating a high fat diet is often not helpful as well, since the body is unable to digest fats appropriately.  Therefore, proper supplementation and nutritional support to balance one’s oxidation rate is imperative, (and the goal is always a healthy fast oxidation rate), as well as choosing foods that are warming and digestible. 

Warming foods are red, orange, or yellow in color.  Fruit, however, is mostly “cooling” to the body, and therefore should be used sparingly if one is working to balance out one’s body chemistry.  Fruit today is very hybridized and bred to be higher in fructose, and I don’t think I have to list the numerous reasons why we need to limit fructose in our diets!  Let me know if you need some good reasons…..

Stir-frying or steaming vegetables makes them more warming than eating them raw.  Root vegetables and those in the brassica family such as cabbage are also more warming as they take longer to grow.  Even chewing our food completely makes it more warming.  So based on what I see in my practice, most women do better with more lightly cooked vegetables that are warming, and fat intake based on their oxidation rate, and moderate protein consumption from healthy, sustainably-raised animals, and properly-prepared, (preferably gluten-free) soaked grains.

In the spirit of being Organic and Thrifty, it must be pointed out that those foods which are most warming tend to be the ones that grow well through the cold winter climates–so if you find yourself living in the Northern latitudes, I encourage you to resist the temptation to eat those English cucumbers and tomatoes flown in from down south, even if they are organic.  Eating locally grown-food isn’t just “hip and green”, but it actually makes sense physiologically.  The food that grows in the climate in which we find ourselves living is most likely the best food for us to eat! 

In order to keep myself accountable to utilize what’s in season, I’ve joined a Winter CSA. These are harder to find in Portland, but they do exist, and they will supply you with an endless variety of squashes, kales, onions, sweet potatoes, cabbages, and all the brassicas. 

So as we head into fall and we can embrace the new variaties of food brought forth from the Earth and we can be encouraged to know that the food that is grown locally is the healthiest, not only for the planet and our pocketbooks, but for our bodies as well!

(Did you know that I write customized menus for clients based on their personal metabolic type?  Interested in digging deeper into your own health enigma and getting some answers?  Private, web-based  Nutritional Consultations are available to those needing support along the journey ).

So today’s post is a simple solution that I think most coffee addicts will appreciate. A brief “commercial” (and my first attempt at videocasting!) on how to make a delicious coffee alternative.  Note: I get no money from any of the companies that produce any of these products. Unless you click on the Amazon link and order something….

Products Used in Video:

Teecino Coffee-Alternative Beverage (I used 2 T per 4 cups of water in my coffee maker)
Raw Goat’s Milk 
NuStevia Liquid Vanilla Stevia
EcoCup- ceramic reusable coffee cup

I’ve told you before what a huge fan I am of Elana’s Pantry.  Well, there are several modifications that I made to one of her recipes that I feel qualify me to post it as my own (with much credit to Elana’s inspiration!!)  This grain-free breakfast has only the smallest hint of sweetener, but it is low on the glycemic index and two small scones for breakfast with some kerrygold butter held me over all morning until a late lunch!

Some fun features of this recipe include the use of duck eggs, which I highly recommend for baking. They give rise and fluff like none other!  I also used thrifty Trader Joe’s almond meal instead of the more spendy Bob’s Red Mill or other blanched almond flours.  I find that even though Elana only vouches for the particular brands of almond flour in her book, I find that TJ’s works great.  And at $3.99 per lb, you can’t beat it! I was also really excited to try out my long-searched for find: Coconut Nectar! It’s a great, low-glycemic, minimally processed, low-fructose alternative to agave nectar. I found it when I was in Califoria. Coconut Secret is the brand, but I haven’t been able to find it in any Oregon stores, so I stocked up in California.

Cherry-Chocolate Chip Scones
Makes 14 scones

I used fresh, pitted cherries for this recipe, but dried would be fine as well!

2.5 cups of almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda (not GAPS allowed)
2 eggs
2 TBS coconut nectar (honey works too)
1/4 tsp liquid stevia
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup pitted, fresh cherries
1/4 cup  73% dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or simply grease with butter.

In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until combined. Add melted butter and coconut nectar or honey, and stevia.

Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.

Drop about 1/4 cup at a time of dough onto prepared baking sheets and shape as desired (I like the triangle look personally).

Bake for 15 minutes.  Serve with butter or whipped cream for a delicious, filling, low-glycemic breakfast!

This post has been submitted to Real Food Wednesday and Slightly Indulgent Tuesday!

Today begins a several-part series on nutritional therapy and healing through diet, based on some notes and reflections on my own and my daughter’s health journey for the last five years.  Her story is a living testimony at how damaging antibiotics and processed food can be, and how healing nourishing foods are!  And my story highlights just how amazing and far-reaching the effects of optimal nutrition for energy, weight loss, positive mood, and healthy skin.

Due to the length of this story, I’m sharing the “cliff notes” verson, as I could literally write an entire book about my daughter’s five short years. 

My first pregnancy was “normal” by all outward signs.  I was planning a homebirth with low-key midwives who were pretty laid back and non-alarmist about much of anything.  Although it’s totally normal to worry throughout your first pregnancy, I had serious concerns about the health of my unborn child. I didn’t feel as many kicks as other pregnant mothers seemed to describe.  I was told not to worry.  At 20 weeks, I had passed out in a restaurant and had to be rushed to the E.R. I had a kidney infection and a routine ultrasound (they do that in the ER when you’re pregnant) revealed that my daughter also had a kidney abnormality.  This added to my worry, and when the due date came and went and she went overdue, I really began to panic.  Long story short, she was born 2+ weeks late via emergency c-section at the hospital. 

And I know, I know, sometimes due dates are off….but this child couldn’t have stayed another minute in the womb.  She was born at 5 lbs, 6 oz and my placenta had completely expired.  Obviously I had some significant nutritional issues during prenancy that were “below the surface” and my body failed to properly nourish my dear daughter. 

After the traumatic birth, my body did what so many do post-partum: the post-traumatic stress response.  I didn’t know this at the time, but my adrenals were working overtime. In the 15 months following my daughter’s birth,  my body remained 60 + lbs overweight due to (what I believe) was a metabolic imbalance resulting from the birth of my child. 

I was completely addicted to sugar and subsisted on cake, ice cream, oatmeal, and crackers.  A very high glycemic diet, to say the least.  My hormones were completely wacky and I could not, try as I might, produce enough breast milk to feed my baby exclusively.

Because of the antibiotics administered during the cesarean, I suffered from thrush and candida, and my sugar and starch-filled diet didn’t help that any. Worst of all, I was depressed, lethargic, and stressed about even the smallest things.  No one ever diagnosed me with Post Partum Depression, but I think I had a pretty significant case of the “baby blues”.  Thankfully, I had the support of my amazing family, including my mother who waited on me hand and foot for 2 weeks and has been so helpful all these years. 

Through my Post-Partum Weight Loss Journey I learned many important lessons about how horrible refined carbs were for me, and as I slowly got back to my pre-pregancy weight, I began to feel better and more energetic.  Just good enough to get pregnant again.  In the middle of my second pregnancy, I discovered the Weston A Price Foundation and Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions which turned my world around.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s an invaluable, eye-opening resource that opened the door to the whole notion of Nutritional Therapy to begin with. The idea that what we eat is healing should have been obvious to me, and perhaps it always was. But what Nourishing Traditions points out is so contrary to the “politically correct” nutritional soundbites and really challenges nutritional misconceptions that are preached as dogma.

At any rate, though Nourishing Traditions I discovered the whole world of Real Food. And what better time than during my second pregancy? I consumed grass-fed, raw milk from local farms, cultured my own probiotic-rich kefir, brewed my own enzyme-rich kombucha, soaked my grains and drank my beet kvass.

My second pregnancy was so much smoother than the first, and although it ended in a cesarean, my recovery was much, much quicker and I seemed to be producing more breast milk this go-around.  Unfortunately, I still did not make enough to sustain my son. Jonathan’s story outlines my search for alternatives to commercial, soybean-laden formula and is a testimony in and of itself to the amazing therapeutic properties of Real Food.

As for me, however, I still felt that lack of energy and internally combustable stress; the notion that at any moment it was all going to explode within me.  I can’t explain it any better than that.  I understand it now as an stress response malfunction due to mineral imbalance and it affected the adrenal and thyroid glands rather significantly.

After lots of trips to a naturopath and lots of guessing based on the symptoms I was describing, and after spending lots of money on herbs that didn’t seem  to be helping, I turned to the internet to do some of my own research.

Seek and you shall find.  I came into contact with wonderful people like Cheeseslave who was on her own journey of adrenal recovery, low milk supply, and nutritonal healing for gut and digestive issues.  I started to look into the whole notion of Adrenal Fatigue and the benefits of theraputic diets such as the GAPS diet for digestive healing.  In short, I uncovered something that would change my life: Nutritional Therapy.

How does Nutritional Therapy Differ from Naturopathic Care?

Nutritional Therapy is somewhat unique in that it really addresses the Foundations of Optimal Health, and doesn’t focus so much on symptoms. Masking symptoms with herbs can be helpful, but if that doesn’t work, or stops working, it’s critical to go to the Foundations and restore balance.

The 5 Foundations of Optimal Health:

*Proper Digestion: The first thing to address is digestion and to make sure that the body is properly breaking down the food and properly assimilating it. Without proper digestion, nutrients can’t get to the cells!

*Proper Blood Sugar Handling: This is huge.  Due to very poor USDA food pyramid guidelines, and the prevalance of refined carbohydrates as well as a fast-paced lifestyle that is stress-inducing, a majority of Americans have poor blood sugar handling. This leads to a myriad of problems, including obesity, malnutrition, diabetes, endocrine problems and fertility problems.

*Fatty Acid Balance: Did you get the memo that fats were good for you? Certain ones aren’t, but most natural ones are!  When I started eating more fat and less carbs, my energy levels changed in a very short time.  My weight started to normalize, and *gasp* I wasn’t hungry all the time! Proper fats are needed to make healthy cells, healthy hormones, and for energy.  They can even prevent sunburns!

*Mineral Balance: Essential minerals are needed for all bodily functions, particularly hormone functions. For mothers, healthy hormones are essential for our energy levels, moods, and health.  Our bodies cannot make minerals, we must obtain (and assimilate!) them from food.  Refined foods are depleted of minerals, and futhermore they deplete our bodies of minerals when we eat them.  The importance of minerals cannot be overstated when it comes to restoring balance and rebuilding the body!

*Hydration: Adequate hydration is the missing link in so many of our diets. I’ll admit, I don’t even remember to always drink as much as I should.  You should aim for half your body weight in ounces of water per day. Water is crucial for a healthy blood pressure, toxin removal, cell communication, joint health, body temperature regulation, gastric juice production, and proper nerve function.  Drinking enough water is the cheapest way you can reverse your health in a short period of time.

Once these five foundations are in place, and assuming that the diet is nutrient-dense, full of properly prepared whole foods, you can then work from that point to continue to address specific symptoms that might still be troubling to your health.

I didn’t have my personal “turnaround” until I begin to really address these foundations. Diet is critical, but even the best diet won’t heal you on its own if the foundations are not in place.

My Personal Plan:Here’s what has worked for me, and of course I will expound and elaborate on these in upcoming posts:

*Giving up the grains and focusing on a paleo/primal diet and following the GAPS guidelines.
*Ridding my diet of fast foods and processed foods
*Adrenal Support (A blend of adaptogenic herbs)
*Vitamin D supplementation
*Fermented Cod Liver Oil (See my Resources page for Sources)
*Coconut Oil, Grass-Fed Butter, and cold-pressed extra virgin olive and flax oils
*Mineral Supplementation, including Molybdenum (who knew?)
*Drinking “alive” beverages such as beet kvass, kombucha, coconut water kefir, etc.
*Drinking alkalized, ionized, microclustered water
*Aiming for a a 1:1 ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 Fatty Acids.

A personalized nutritional plan is key to healthy motherhood, and healthy is thrifty.  Healthy equals “no copays”. Yes, there are some supplements to buy in the short-term, but eventually once you restore balance you should do pretty well with a nutrient-dense diet.

This post is not intended to be taken as medical advice, rather you should see a qualified heathcare professional who practices Nutrition-Based Therapy. There are several Chiropractors, Naturpaths, and Nutritional Therapists who utilize this foundational approach. You can find one in your area by going here. 

If you have difficulty finding a Nutrition-Oriented practitioner in your area, I am pleased to say that I am now offering remote nutritional consultations via phone and internet. If you would like to know if my skill set matches your needs, please read about my Nutrition Consultations!

This post has been a part of Real Food Wednesday!