Nature and nurture...

What a beautiful day and such a gift to be able to sit outside on our patio, surrounded by trees and nature. Listening to her sounds brings me such peace. I close my eyes and feel the moist coolness in the air. The birds are all singing their own unique version of joy.  So many different birds chattering that it astounds me and brings pure music to my ears.

The plants have all sprung up overnight as I am sure they were just buds yesterday when I took a walk in the garden. They have opened up as if reaching to allow the rain to kiss their faces and bring more life. Birth and growth and joy all around.
The air freshly washed by the soft and gentle rain. It's almost as if one can smell the life that is springing up all over. The budding of leaves, blossoms and ideas.

Peaceful, quiet, with just the sound of nature all around. I breathe it all in.

It feels, sounds and smells uplifting and rejuvenating and it is in this moment that I am aware, and fully understand how important and energizing it is to slow down long enough to listen and feel the rhythm and flow of the world around me. To remind me of our connection to all and to appreciate and respect the beauty of that and the gift of life.

It is the giving and receiving of energy and love. I love and appreciate the beauty of the world around me and in turn the energy that flows back nourishes me, gives me more life and keeps me balanced and healthier.

History is so 5 minutes ago...

She was seven and she sat there looking up at the woman who gave birth to her, the woman who was supposed to love and protect her, and this is what she heard, "I never wanted you, you are an unwanted child"

Whether that was really exactly what the mother said, we will never know. All that matters is that, that was exactly what the little girl heard and it changed her life for a very, very long time.

Today her mother is dead and has been for a few years. Actually her mother died on her husbands birthday. Guess that ensures that she will never forget the day her mother died. Is it poetic that she died the day that the love of her life celebrates his birthday? The man who changed her life yet again and who opened the heart that her mothers' lack of love closed.

Did her mother do the best she could with a heart that was also broken and closed and unable to love? When was the moment that her inner child broke? The moment her inner child shrunk away and hid from the world so far and deep that her grown self couldn't even reach her? Why did she never stop to take a long hard look at her life and decide that things needed to change to have a different outcome. Did the shattered heart of her child and the pain in her little girls eyes not remind her of her own shattered heart or even cause her enough remorse to stop and pay attention? Cause her to realize what she had said and created by her cruelty and inner pain.

I remember exactly when that moment was for me and made a conscious decision not to inflict that kind of pain on a child until I was whole and healthy and healed. Not until I knew how to open my heart and love. It took a lot of soul searching and alternative energy and healing therapies to find my inner child and convince her that it is safe to live and to love and that I will protect her and love her and never give up on her. But, I had to believe that myself first. Was I ready to be there for her and myself. Was I ready to open my heart and love myself unconditionally?
I had to, to help that little girl heal...to help my inner little girl heal and trust again.
She couldn't trust her mother, the one that birthed her and now here I am the one that is her...can she trust me, can I trust me?

Everyday is a journey towards that trust and unconditional love. Somedays I fail dismally and other days I'm whole, healed and happy.

My goal is to always know that I am whole, healed and happy and that nothing and no one defines me, that my history is just a story and I no longer have to be a part of it.
I write this to place it in a history book. The book of a little seven year olds life.
My seven year old and I are one and right now have no past, no history. We are safe, whole, happy and healed. So today is a good day!

Honey: A Sweet Alternative for Treating Cough in Children

 

August 6, 2012 — Honey is more effective than a placebo in controlling nighttime cough in children with upper respiratory infections (URI), according to the results from a new randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. The results were published online August 6 in Pediatrics.

The World Health Organization recommends honey as a nighttime treatment for coughing in young children with URIs. However, prior studies either tested only a single type of honey or were not blinded.

In the current study, children with URIs and nocturnal cough were given either 1 of 3 different honey products or a placebo 30 minutes before bedtime, based on a double-blind randomization plan. The primary outcome evaluated was a subjective change in cough frequency, based on parent surveys. Secondary outcomes measured included a change in cough severity, the effect of the cough on sleep for both the child and the parent, and the combined score on the pre- and postintervention surveys.

Herman Avner Cohen, MD, from the Pediatric Ambulatory Community Clinic, Petach Tikva, Israel, and colleagues compared symptom scores for each treatment group before and after the intervention and found that patients in all 3 honey groups demonstrated significant improvement compared with patients treated with placebo. There were no significant differences among the different types of honey.

"The results of this study demonstrate that each of the 3 types of honey (eucalyptus, citrus, and labiatae) was more effective than the placebo for the treatment of all of the outcomes related to nocturnal cough, child sleep, and parental sleep," the authors write.

The researchers enrolled 300 children with URIs, aged 1 to 5 years, who were seen at 1 of 6 general pediatric community clinics between January 2009 and December 2009. Patients were eligible if they had a nocturnal cough attributed to the URI. Children were excluded if they had symptoms of asthma, pneumonia, laryngotracheobronchitis, sinusitis, and/or allergic rhinitis. Patients who used any cough or cold medication or honey in the previous 24 hours were also excluded.

Parents were asked to evaluate the children the day of presentation, when no medication had been given, and then again the day after a single dose of 10 g of eucalyptus honey, citrus honey, labiatae honey, or placebo (silan date extract) had been administered before bedtime. Pre- and postintervention subjective assessments were obtained using a 5-item Likert-scale questionnaire regarding the child's cough and sleep difficulty. Only those children whose parents rated severity as at least a 3 (on a 7-point scale) for at least 2 of the 3 questions related to nocturnal cough and sleep quality on the preintervention questionnaire were included.

Of the 300 patients enrolled, 270 (89.7%) completed the single-night study. The median age of these children was 29 months (range, 12 - 71 months). There was no significant age difference among the treatment groups. Symptom severity was also similar among all 4 treatment groups.

Adverse events were reported for 5 patients and included stomachache, nausea, and vomiting and were not significantly different between the groups.

The authors acknowledge the limitations of the study, including the subjective nature of the survey and the fact that the intervention period was limited to a single dose. In addition, they note that some of the improvement measured may be attributed to the natural progression of URIs, which may improve with supportive care and time.

"On the basis of our findings, honey can be offered as an alternate treatment to children >1 year of age," note Dr. Cohen and colleagues.

"Honey may be a preferable treatment of cough and sleep difficulties associated with childhood URI," they conclude.

Funding for this study was provided by a research grant from the Israel Ambulatory Pediatric Association, Materna Infant Nutrition Research Institute, and the Honey Board of Israel. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Pediatrics. Published online August 6, 2012.

Kids' coughs and colds...

Many parents often rush to the doctor or hospital whenever their child from feels under the weather or gets a cold. Our society tends to make parents feel like they are doing a terrible job if they just let a cold, cough or little fever run its course.

We need to get a cold or fever occasionally and all of this builds up our immune system, making it stronger.

The following information may alleviate our concerns regarding letting the immune system do its job...

Kids' Coughs, Colds May Last Weeks but Don't Need Drugs

December 17, 2013

By Genevra Pittman

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Dec 17 - Children's coughs and colds can last up to two or three weeks and earaches may take a week to get better, according to a new review of past studies.

Researchers said they hope the findings help reassure both doctors and parents that respiratory symptoms can last "longer than previously appreciated" but typically don't require treatment.

"A lot of times, we just have to give it a bit more time," Dr. Sharon B. Meropol said.

Meropol, from Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, was not involved in the new research.

She said the findings are consistent with what she sees as a pediatrician.

For their review, Dr. Matthew Thompson from the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues analyzed the results of 48 studies of children with a respiratory tract infection.

Kids in those studies were treated with over-the-counter medicines, drug-free placebo pills or nothing. Researchers followed them to see when their symptoms went away.

Among children with earaches, 90% were better within seven to eight days of visiting a primary care doctor or the emergency room. Most kids with the common cold were better after 15 days, while it took 25 days for almost all children with a cough to be fully recovered.

Sore throats typically lasted anywhere from two to seven days, depending on the study.

The duration of earaches and common colds in particular was "considerably longer" than parents in the U.S. and UK are generally told, the researchers wrote in the British Medical Journal, online December 11.

Meropol said most children with coughs, colds and other respiratory tract infections don't need to see a doctor. With the exception of strep throat, those infections are typically caused by viruses.

"Some people . . . think that if symptoms go on past a couple of days, the child needs antibiotics," Meropol said. But viruses don't respond to antibiotics, and the drugs may cause diarrhea or other side effects among children.

What's more, using antibiotics could have long-term implications by increasing the chance that bugs become resistant to the drugs, making future infections harder to treat.

"The take home message is that symptoms of many of these common respiratory tract infections may last a while and that prolonged symptoms do not necessarily mean that the child needs antibiotics or other medications," Dr. Theoklis Zaoutis told Reuters Health in an email.

Zaoutis is an infectious diseases specialist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania and wasn't involved in the new review.

There are still some situations when children with respiratory symptoms do need to see a doctor, Meropol said.

That's when their symptoms keep getting worse, or don't start slowly getting better over time as expected. Kids who are having trouble breathing or have other serious symptoms also need to go to the doctor, she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/J2NQ4A

Miracles

Webster defines miracles as "an event or effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things. - a deviation from the known laws of nature: a supernatural event or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the universe is governed."

This is interesting to me because it then means that miracles occur around us on a daily basis and many of us miss it. Life in and of itself is miraculous. This definition covers a whole host of occurrences.

I had a magical moment when listening to Gabby Bernstein on Ted talks, when I heard that a miracle is a shift in perception, I repeat, a miracle is a shift in perception.

I so often wish for miracles and wonder around in hopes of being smacked in the face by one because I had some strange and untrue idea that miracles are big, grand things that are accompanied by fireworks and fanfare and not the miraculous, everyday things filling my life. Maybe I should have looked up the definition a long time ago and by doing so have experienced a miracle...(shift in perception, Ha)

 I am honored to have shifts in perception on a regular basis. Those light bulb moments when we look at things from a different light/angle and see them as amazing as they are. I vow to appreciate them as miracles from now on.

Here's a shift in perception....we are all connected and stem from the same energy. The table, the trees etc., are all manifestations of source energy. There is nothing below or above us. We are all the same. We are the source. Our energy is an expression of what we witness, feel and think.

What we fear the most we constantly give very powerful energy to, as fear is a strong emotion and the stronger the emotion the stronger the force of energy and the faster we draw like energy towards ourselves.

Take a car accident, we may not have attracted the car accident per se, but we did attract the emotions that we feel resulting from the accident. In other words, if the accident causes us to feel like a victim or angry or frustrated, we need to look at how often and strongly we have felt those same feelings in the days and weeks before...so, we attracted that same feeling... the car accident was merely the vehicle (excuse the pun) that brought that emotion to the surface once again. Thus giving us the opportunity to choose differently, to feel differently, before we attract something even more dismal to amplify our feelings.

I choose to feel happy, whole and healed and keep reminding myself of this so that I may attract more of the same and experience more miracles in my life.

The root of survival...

Our root chakra or energy center...

Sanskrit name...Muladhara...'support or root'
physical needs, basic human survival, security, stability, work. ..group identity..
red................
Verbs...I HAVE
Grounded to earth...fight or flight...adrenals..
link between root chakra and gravity constantly pulling us downward, connecting us to our material existence

too open....bullying, overly materialistic, self-centered, physical foolhardiness
Blocked...emotionally needy, low self esteem, self destructive behavior, stuck, fearful
Balanced...demonstrates self mastery, high physical activity, grounded, healthy

dysfunctional...victim, mental lethargy, spaciness, unfocused mind difficulty achieving goals,
incapable of stillness

Physical dysfunction...osteoarthritis
ass body part...bones and skeletal structure
Glandular connection...adrenals
sense...smell
Societal association....tribal power and family identity.
Life lesson...standing up for oneself.
main issues....survival and physical needs.
developmental age...1-8 years
Archetypes...Earth mother, Victim

This energy center keeps us grounded. It is all about tribal belonging and we search to be part of a family and fit in. The bottom three chakras has to do with how we fit into the world around us, how we move and flow with it. It is all about us and everyone around us.

It is important to be grounded whilst reaching for the stars and developing the rest of our identity. Usually a strong family structure or tribal belonging helps form stable and healthy individuals.
If we feel safe and loved we can move freely and joyfully through this world. If our needs are met as a child we are more confident and secure.

An Apple a day.....

Below is the articlle on the positive effects phytonutrients (as compared to statin therapy), can have on our health.

 As was pointed out in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 78, No. 3, 517S-520S, September 2003, it would appear that the "Health benefits of fruit and vegetables are from additive and synergistic combinations of phytochemicals are the best". 

So, the addition of a "Greens Drink" containing phytochemicals from both fruits and vegetables (such as Dynamic Greens or Phytoganix), to a healthy diet, might be even a better idea than just the apple polyphenols, flavonoids and glycans,  alone.

 

Heartwire

An Apple (or Statin) a Day Will Keep the Doctor Away: Population Health Analysis

December 18, 2013

OXFORD, UK — So, that old chestnut your mother told you turns out to be rooted in valid, scientific evidence: eating an apple a day really would keep the doctor away[1].

In fact, according to the new analysis by British researchers, if individuals ate just one extra apple a day, approximately 8500 deaths from vascular disease could be prevented in the UK.

The reduction in vascular deaths by adding an apple to the diet is on par with the reduction that would be observed if all UK individuals over 50 years of age were prescribed statin therapy. In that scenario, 9400 deaths from vascular disease could be prevented if these adults were started on simvastatin 40 mg.

"Statins and apples are both iconic," lead researcher Dr Adam Briggs (University of Oxford, UK) told heartwire . "An apple a day is known throughout the English-speaking world as a saying for health, and statins are now some of the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. So, when you now have a debate in the medical world about increasing the amount of statins prescribed for primary prevention, we wanted to look at what that would mean for population health and if there were other ways of doing it."

In the US, as reported by heartwire , the new American College of Cardiology/ American Heart Association(ACC/AHA) guidelines for the management of cholesterol suggest treating primary-prevention patients if they have an LDL-cholesterol level between 70 and 189 mg/dL and a 10-year risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease >7.5%. In the UK, the guidelines are less aggressive and recommend statin therapy for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease if the 10-year risk score is >20%.

However, Briggs said there is debate in UK about expanding the use of statins to all patients 50 years of age or older.

"What we're trying to say from this analysis is that dietary changes initiated at the population level can have a really meaningful effect on population health," he said. "And second, so can increasing drug prescriptions. Now, we're not trying to say that people should be swapping their statins for apples; that's not where we're going. However, if they want to add an apple to that as part of disease prevention, then by all means do so, because you'll be further along in reducing your risk of fatal heart attacks and strokes."

The new report is published December 17, 2013 in the Christmas issue of BMJ. In addition to this "Comparative Proverb Assessment Modelling Study" by Briggs and colleagues, the lighthearted Christmas issue includes research that takes a  longitudinal look at virgin births in the US to raise awareness about the need for sex education, while another "meta-narrative analysis" looks at why individuals follow bad celebrity medical advice.

Apples Are Both Nutritious and Delicious

To assess the potential benefits of putting more patients on statins, the researchers used data from theCholesterol Treatment Trialists' meta-analysis that showed vascular mortality is reduced 12% for every 1.0-mmol/L reduction in LDL cholesterol. This was applied to the annual reduction in vascular mortality rates in UK individuals 50 years of age or older who were not currently taking a statin for primary disease prevention.

For the apple-a-day assessment, they used a widely published risk-assessment model (PRIME). This model includes a multitude of dietary variables, in which investigators can substitute different food choices to assess the effects on population health. The apple was assumed to weigh 100 g, and calorie intake was assumed to remain constant. This allowed investigators to assess the effect of substituting in one apple daily on vascular mortality in the UK population.

For statin therapy, offering the treatment to an extra 17 million individuals and assuming 70% compliance would prevent 9400 vascular deaths each year. Assuming 70% compliance with the apple, even though "apples are of course both delicious and nutritious," say the researchers, the estimated reduction in vascular deaths would be 8500. They add that prescribing statins to all those eligible would lead to 1200 cases of myopathy, 200 cases of rhabdomyolysis, and 12 300 new diagnoses of diabetes mellitus.

Interestingly, the cost of statin therapy from the drug alone would be £180 million compared with £260 million for the apples. However, the authors point out that the National Health Services (NHS) might be able to negotiate apple price freezes ("although defrosted apples may not be so palatable," they add).

To heartwire , Briggs said he was surprised at how well the apples compared with statin therapy. However, he stressed the point is not to encourage patients to stop taking their medication. He points out that the UK has a "five-a-day" campaign to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, but 69% of the population do not meet the recommendations.

Having now studied the science underlying an apple a day for keeping the doctor away, the group jokingly states they will next "model the effect of inquisitiveness on feline mortality rates."

Briggs, along with coauthors Drs Anja Mizdrak and Peter Scarborough (University of Oxford) report no conflicts of interest. Briggs consumes at least five fruits and vegetables per day, Mizdrak tries to, and Scarborough is a vegetarian. All their diets include apples. None of the researchers take statins, and all "purport to be under 50 years old."

 

References

1.   Briggs AD, Mizdrak A, Scarborough P. A statin a day keeps the doctor away: comparative proverb assessment modelling study. BMJ 2013; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.f7267. Available at: http://www.bmj.com.