Radically Natural POV: Teach Your Children the Three Rs

I once heard a wise man say that if you have children, you are a parent.  It's more profound than it sounds, isn't it?  Being a parent is your number-one, full-time job...it is your life's calling.  Everything else is secondary to it.  And the beautiful privilege and weighty responsibility of any parent is to raise adults...to make people...intelligent, creative, caring, thinking, balanced, self-sufficient, happy, healthy people.  When our children leave our nests, they take with them the bodies we have made for them, the spirits we have nurtured in them, the perspectives we have imparted, and whatever education and indoctrination they received during their formative years...from us and from others.

Vaccination and the "Scientific Method"

I read this week one of the most succinct, thoroughly researched presentations on the continually raging vaccine controversy.  I wish I had written it!  LOL 

The author highlighted numerous important aspects of this issue, including individual rights, medical efficacy and scientific veracity.  She echoed sentiments and research I have presented, and she emphasized a key component to the controversy: the illegitimate "scientific method" used in vaccine safety trials.  The double-blind placebo controlled trial is the empirical standard of medical science.  But vaccine trials don't use this method.  

You see, vaccines are not research effective because they are not subjected to double-blind placebo controlled studies using a saline solution that is the standard for evidence-based medicine. Vaccinations are tested against other vaccinations, adjuvants, and complex vaccinations – this not only yields inaccurate results but altered and inaccurate safety data. How can you know if something is truly safe if it is not tested against a placebo? -- Megan Heimer, Livingwhole.org

It seems to me that even people who trust that pharma companies are using honest, objective scientific methodology to test their drugs (I am not one of those people) would assent to the falsity of the vaccine safety test methods.  Other drugs are not (supposed to be) tested thus.

Some people might agree with the unscientific vaccine testing protocol, excusing it by saying it would be "unethical" to withhold a "necessary" medicine from a child (I read this in the comments section on Megan's post).  Hmmmm...are vaccines truly necessary?  The jury is certainly out on that one.  Consider that there are thousands of unvaccinated children in this country alone...many of them by parental choice...not to mention the unvaccinated adults.  No child died after a well-check from not receiving a vaccine, but children have died after receiving their vaccines.  I do not believe it is acutely life threatening to withhold a vaccine, so a legitimate study, even a short-term acute reaction study, could certainly be done.  

Kudos to Megan for her Response to Eliminating Vaccine Exemptions!  

Radically Natural Remedies for Impetigo

Impetigo is a common contagious skin infection producing blisters usually on the face, neck, hands and groin area. These blisters often fill up with or ooze yellow fluid or pus, resulting in honey colored scabs. A bacterial infection, impetigo is caused either by Staphylococcus aureus (in which case, impetigo is also referred to as golden staph) or Streptococcus pyogenes.

In addition to antibacterial botanicals, coconut oil is an effective treatment for impetigo.  Coconut is naturally antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal.  Among natural healers, coconut oil is know as an effective remedy for yeast infections, and research shows that coconut oil could be an effective weapon against drug-resistant bacteria.  A published study in the medical journal Dermatitis revealed virgin coconut oil's effectiveness in combating Staph aureus.

Radically Natural Remedies for Winter Ick

This winter seemed to be a particularly long illness season.  Since these bugs like to hang around into spring, I thought it wasn't too late to share some remedies.

In December, I posted a long list of remedies for sore throats and coughs.  I wanted to follow up with a couple of my favorite tips for ear infections and general remedies for colds and congestion.  I'm thankful that my family did not suffer bounceback infections this winter.  I think we got one mild upper respiratory bug that lasted a few days.  Aside from a nourishing Real Foods diet with regular consumption of homemade gelatinous broths, a basic remedy repertoire can improve or ensure wellness.

Skipping Intro Will Hamper Your Success with GAPS

If you don't do GAPS Intro, you aren't really doing GAPS...you're basically just eating paleo.  Believe me, I know Intro is a challenge.  But if you skip the "I eat, sleep, breathe, dream homemade soup from meat stock and bone broth" part of GAPS, you won't experience the complete healing that you seek.  The Intro portion of the GAPS protocol is where the lion's share of the gut healing work takes place.  The goal of the GAPS program is to heal the gut lining, destroy the malevolent pathogens living in your body, repopulate your beneficial flora, and detoxify your entire system.

Skim Milk Is Not a Nourishing Food

The fraudulent "lipid hypothesis" that has given our culture (good) fat phobia since the 1950s...and done wonders for the food and drug industry...has perpetuated the myth that butter is bad and that skim milk is healthy.  Au contraire!  Skim milk is not a nourishing food.  If you aren't drinking whole (raw grass-fed) milk, you aren't doing your body good.

The essential nutrients in milk is in its fat.  Cream from grass-fed cows is rich in vitamins A, D3, and K2 (industrial pasteurized milk is "fortified" with synthetic vitamin D2, known to be toxic to the liver).  Real milk's vitamins (A, D, E, K) and its CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) are fat-soluble, and are transmitted via the cream (they exist in the fat of the milk)...and they cannot be absorbed, nor utilized, without the fat.   Low-fat (commercial) milk is always supplemented with vitamins, because they are naturally missing after the milk's processing.

Radically Natural Remedies for Coughs and Sore Throats

Cold and flu season is upon us once again.  It's amazing how quickly a year passes!  My kiddos had their first respiratory complaints of the season at Thanksgiving, so I thought it would be timely to share some Real Medicine approaches for coughs and sore throats.  

Coughs and sore throats tend to accompany colds and flus; they also develop as standalone illnesses.  Thankfully, the complex constituents of botanical medicines make each plant well suited as a remedy for multiple maladies.  Dealing with any cold or flu requires a similar botanical approach.  We desire to support the immune system and use herbs that have natural broad-spectrum antibiotic properties, to either ward off or shorten the duration of the virus.

Fat Is Your Friend!

I have had so many titles for this long-in-the-works article swimming about in my brain...

• Lean Meat: The Scourge of the American Diet
• Embrace Fat: Cholesterol Is Not the Enemy
• Real Fat: The Essential Human Nutrient
• When Bad "Science" Won't Die: The Lipid Lie
• Fabulous Fat: The Beautiful Truth about a Fabulous Nutrient, Starring Cholesterol, Your Hormones' Best Friend!

(That last one seemed just a tad long, LOL!)

ACOG Continues to Wage War Against Birth Freedoms

My ire was kindled this week by information shared in a news email I received from the Citizens for Midwifery:

ACOG Rejects the Ethic That Autonomy Is a Fundamental Human Right

The newsletter describes yet another attack by the ACOG (American College of Gynecology) on homebirth and patient-centered pregnancy care in the United States.  An October 2012 article in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology outlines the faulty ACOG position.  The article actually coaches OBs on how to counteract the "resurgence" of homebirths, and on how to deal with mothers who express a desire to birth at home.

Laboring Under Delusions: How Fear Facilitates Our Broken Birth Culture

I am glowing this week, as I just discovered I am pregnant with whom we hope will be child number four. I have a history of infertility and miscarriages, along with debilitating nausea and vomiting that lasts the entire gestation, so each pregnancy is met with prayerful anticipation. My births, however, have been wonderful, natural, empowering events...that necessitated commitment, preparation and hard work on my part. And I can promise you, Ladies, home waterbirths are every bit as wonderful as you’ve heard. I’ve had a land birth and I’ve had waterbirths...and you couldn’t pay me to give birth out of the water. They don’t call it the “aqua”dural for nothing! (Check out the myriad advantages of waterbirths for Mom and baby at the Waterbirth International website.)

Celebrating Crunchy Mamas and the Dads Who Love Them...

This radically natural mama wanted to give a round of applause to MamaNatural and her funny bone tickling series of videos highlighting those oh-so-comically wise things we crunchy mamas say (and do).  How many times have I said so many of these things?!  My kids were thoroughly entertained, blurting out, "that sounds like you, mom!" more than once.  Their favorite clip was (spoiler alert) what they now just call, "Run!  It's the FDA!"  The final video in the series (thus far) is a little bravo for the crunchy dads who support (and even echo) us.  My hubby enjoyed identifying with some of the all-too-familiar banter.  Hooray for the crunchy natural parents everywhere!

Radically Natural POV: Yes, Breast Always IS Best

I am a huge fan of the work of Weston Price and the WAPF; I fully support traditional diets and applaud the work the foundation does to education people about health and true nutrition...I'm a WAPF member.  But I acknowledge that the WAPF is not perfect.  Gasp!  Shocking?  Of course not...no one is perfect, not even me.

Recently, as I was reading through some post comments on one of my favorite blogs, I was reminded of some less-than-desirable breastfeeding advice shared by the WAPF.  Instead of being privately frustrated, I wanted to take a few moments to briefly address what I consider to be errors in WAPF's perspective.  But I also acknowledge that I could be misconstruing the foundation's advice, so forgive me if you feel I have improperly interpreted the information.

Protecting Our Children from Fear-Based Medicine and Vaccine Damage

I have long been a skeptic of the modern medical establishment's paradigm and practices.  Because I am wired to question and contradict the status quo, it was natural for me to eject from a broken medical system.  I believe the modern allopathic system is irrevocably flawed; I do not trust drug companies or the institutions and doctors over whom they hold sway.

Before my children were born, I determined I would never vaccinate any of them.  I had studied and queried enough to know that the fear-based vaccination agenda would not be a part of our lives.  At that time, my position was somewhat unusual...much more so than now.  Because of the wealth of information being quickly disseminated in our society today, growing numbers of concerned parents have begun to question the sanity of the vaccine program. 

Recipes, Remedies and Herbs for GAPS Intro

I had hoped to write this post sooner, but have been quite busy working in the garden now that summer has arrived to our neck of the woods.  And the fact that I have been working in the garden is a fantastic segue into today's GAPS article (if you have not already, please read my GAPS summary).


For (just a tad under) the last four decades (yes, I'm almost revealing my age, LOL), I have suffered terribly from allergies, particularly pollen.  I am/have been "allergic" to nearly every green thing that grows on the face of the earth.  Except for the dead of frozen winter, I have experienced varying levels of excruciating misery being outdoors.  This is our sixth week on GAPS Intro and I am ecstatic to announce that I have been actually enjoying spending time outside.  I am certainly not yet reaction-free, but I am at least 50% better...and for me, that's phenomenal...you have no idea.  I am experiencing an amazing freedom from lifelong debilitating pollen allergies.  This defies the conventional understanding of "allergies," which, of course, makes me quite happy.  

Our Progress with GAPS Intro...The Benefits Abound

As promised, I'm back to talk in more detail about the GAPS Intro protocol and my family's experience thus far.  This is very exciting territory and I am eager to share.  I'm going to follow the sage advice of my favorite journalism professor (boy, does that bring up memories) and try to "Keep It Simple."


If you have not already, please read my GAPS Summary.  Now, before I dive into what GAPS Intro is and how we have implemented it, I'm going to tell you all the fantastic results we have seen to date.  Lead with the "meat," right Prof?

GAPS in My Thinking...or, How Your Gut is Ruining Your Life

My Story
Let's start at the very beginning, with my personal health journey.  As I shared in a previous post, I have suffered allergies all my life and have "passed along" the malady to my children.  In addition to "typical" physical allergies (pollen, dust, molds, animals, foods, chemicals, etc.), I have been afflicted with other ailments (some of which are allergy-related) such as asthma, bladder/bowl problems, insomnia, chronic migraines, autism spectrum-like over-sensitivity threshold disorders, candida overgrowth, depression, OCD, muscle/joint pain, debilitating pregnancies, and hormonal imbalances (including thyroid, adrenals, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone...) causing infertility and mood disorders, extreme fatigue and brain fog.  I produced children who have been extraordinarily colicky, over-sensitive, allergic (to varying degrees), asthma-prone insomniacs with various levels of GI distress.

Let's Talk About Real Milk

The elixir of life...liquid gold...it does a body good...???  Milk is good for you, right?  Well, not exactly...It all depends on how you define milk.

I know...I've come a little late to the dance, LOL.  But I may have a slightly different perspective to share, or just some helpful reminders, so I will sally forth.

What is real milk?  Simply defined, it is the unadulterated milk obtained from a lactating mammal that is eating its natural diet and living a natural lifestyle.  Historically, human cultures consumed or used milk from cows, goats, sheep, camels, water buffaloes, and likely others.  As far as compatibility to the human system (comparable nutrient profile and protein density), resulting in the most efficient digestibility, I think the evidence points to goat (or sheep) milk.  But our society's milk of choice is that of the cow, so we will focus on cows' milk here.

Radically Natural Remedies: Healing with Hydrogen Peroxide

My family has enjoyed the healing benefits of hydrogen peroxide for some years.  This remedy is so easy to use and fairly inexpensive; it makes a nice addition to the natural medicine repertoire.

Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is a multi-purpose anti-microbial and, as one pro-H2O2 author has stated, is "essential to life."  Most people are familiar with hydrogen peroxide as an antiseptic for wounds, but its myriad further uses are less well known.  Rather than re-inventing the wheel here, I would like to share a few facts about hydrogen peroxide via quotes from an excellent article on its health benefits, which is an essential read (Benefits of H2O2):

"...the cells responsible for fighting infection and foreign invaders in the body (your white blood cells) make hydrogen peroxide and use it to oxidize any offending culprits. The intense bubbling you see when hydrogen peroxide comes in contact with a bacteria-laden cut or wound is the oxygen being released and bacteria being destroyed. The ability of our cells to produce hydrogen peroxide is essential for life.

...we now know that vitamin C helps fight infections by producing hydrogen peroxide, which in turn stimulates the production of prostaglandins. Also lactobacillus found in the colon and vagina produce hydrogen peroxide. This destroys harmful bacteria and viruses, preventing colon disease, vaginitis, bladder infections and a host of other common ailments. 

The friendly bacteria in the colon and vagina are aerobic. In other words, they flourish in high oxygen environments and thrive in the presence of oxygen rich H202. On the other hand, most strains of harmful bacteria (and cancer cells) are anaerobic and cannot survive in the presence of oxygen or H202."

Radically Natural Recipe: Put It in a Smoothie!!!

I love smoothies!  I love playing with flavor combinations; I love refreshing frozen fruit; I love a smooth, creamy texture; I love the color; I love the healthy ingredients that impart amazing flavor without any unnecessary added sugars/franken-foods.

And I LOVE that you can hide otherwise less palatable things in smoothies and get your kids to drink them.

We drink an abundance of smoothies and I never neglect to use them as a vehicle for an extra "health shot."  I add powdered herbs, vitamins, liquid algae, cod liver oil, kefir, wheatgrass, etc. ... whatever needs to be in my children's bodies that otherwise might take excessive work and/or fussing.  The key to successful smoothie supplement "hiding" is FLAVOR!  And the key to good smoothie flavor is excellent, organic, ripe fruit.

Tumble Troubles

Children and falls...an inevitable part of growing up for them; sometimes a hair-graying experience for us!  Whether insignificant or serious, falls require immediate attention and the physical aftermath can be greatly helped by prompt and proper treatment.


This topic moved to the top of my list after my toddler took a spill down the stairs this week.  While such an incident is not an uncommon childhood happenstance, it certainly was stressful.  Thankfully, having a well-rounded regimen backed by experience made the situation less traumatic and accelerated the healing process.  ("Prescription" descriptions follow the story.)