and the award goes to.... the apple!

I try to feed my family as organic as possible, however, it's not always an option to buy everything organic. After doing some research, I found a helpful list of foods that use the most pesticides in farming and the apple is the clear winner with 42 different pesticides used. Some other offenders - peaches, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, blueberries, spinach and potatoes. Obviously, you also want to try and buy organic meat and dairy products. I've also heard from different sources that there are a lot of pesticides used on wheat in the various stages of processing, so I buy organic bread and pasta.

Pesticides make me so nervous. I feel that they are so overused. My mother told me the story of one of her friend who grew up on a farm and he was the youngest in the family, so he never had to work in the fields. His sister was the oldest, so she was inside taking care of the household chores everyday. The other three siblings all worked in the fields and all three of them died of cancer. The other two are healthy to this day. I think the best thing you can do is avoid pesticides as much as possible. Don't spray your lawn, don't have the pest control spray your house for bugs and buy as many organic groceries as you can.

Speaking of cancer, I read an interesting article last night regarding a study where cancer cells were grown in a petri dish. They both thrive on glucose and fructose, however, the cancer cells reproduce more rapidly when given fructose. Here's a link to the article:

Fructose and Cancer

More on harmful sweeteners next time!

One last note - last week I talked a lot about dairy. I wanted to make it clear that I am a breastfeeding mother, so I had to cut dairy out of my diet completely because everything you eat ends up in your breastmilk. Additionally, reflux is not the only symptom of a dairy allergy. Some other symptoms include skin problems (eczema, rosacea, acne) diarrhea, constipation, ear infections and arthritis.

"cow's milk was made for baby cows"

My favorite quote from the first holistic doctor I ever saw, Dr. Loewe. She made such a good point that humans aren't really meant to drink cow's milk, so it's no wonder most people can't digest it. I figured this out for the first time when my newborn daughter was projectile vomiting on me from the minute we brought her home. At the time I was familiar with food allergies, but it took me awhile to remember the wise advice of Dr. Loewe and completely cut dairy out of my diet. A few days later, the spit up was gone.

It's so frustrating to hear from new mothers who tell of the same reflux stories only to follow it up with how their babies are on prescription medicine for their reflux. It's common sense - if your body can't digest something, don't eat it! I think the whole idea of kids drinking milk as part of a healthy diet is a bit overdone. My daughter never started drinking milk on a regular basis and she's perfectly healthy. She eats yogurt and cheese occasionally and will drink the random glass of milk, but I just don't understand who thought it was such a good idea to start giving our kids a lactose overdose the day they turn 1?

I know everyone has different opinions on holistic medicine and I'm certainly not a doctor, but I just want to share my experiences from being a natural minded mother. I'm hoping to update this blog on a weekly basis to discuss different natural remedies and give some good advice to people who are interested in this approach to parenting.

So here are a couple tips if you are going to cut dairy out of your diet...

~ Whey and casein are found in so many processed foods - so beware!
~ Eggs are not dairy, contrary to popular belief.
~ Cocoa butter is not dairy as well, so if you are having a sweets craving, grab some dark chocolate, just make sure there is no milkfat in it.
~ Almond and Rice milk are great milk substitutes, I especially like the Silk Pure Almond milk in the refrigerated section.
~ Goat and sheep cheese are easier to digest, so there are some people with milk allergies that can have goat and sheep cheese.