Catching up

by UUPP on etsy

Wow, these last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity! The kids go back to school on Monday and I think we're ready for the routine. The folders and pens and school shoes are bought, backpacks loaded up and waiting, haircuts given, and outfits picked out for picture day which occurs for both of them next week already. (I got my hair cut a lot shorter and am loving it too!!)

Caroline finally got her bottom braces on and a palatal expander on the top, which is a bit like a torture device meant to widen her upper palette. I turn the crank twice a day, which has been just a joyous occasion for both of us-- not really! We both cried because she was in so much pain at first. But it's getting better. She gets it off in three months and the wire put on. Until then, eating, talking and looking normal are out of the question. She starts High School this year and hates that this is all going on during her transition into it. I still think she is as cute as ever but you can't tell that to a teenage girl!

Nathaniel has literally grown several inches over the summer! I think he only has one or two inches to go before he's as tall as me! (That's tall!) I think he'll reach 6' easily by High School. My baby is not looking so much like one anymore... I think it's time to find a razor too! Yikes!

I have some really great news-- we had our newer neighbors over a couple weeks ago and I started talking to her about her skin care line she developed. I think I've tried everything so I wasn't expecting to be surprised by anything new. Well, I was totally wrong! I am going to do a whole post on this but for right now, I just wanted to share that I'm going to help her with her logo design and possibly a little more! I think she is wonderful and what she's made has totally changed my skin... it's like I'm young again with the complexion of a child. I'm not kidding. Though I did find out jojoba oil is not good for me so I can't use the lipid defender. I was so excited to share this with all of you so I will probably just write about it asap. 

The last thing I wanted to tell you is that I've been reading Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sally Fallon Morrell and Dr. Mary Enig of Nourishing Traditions and also The Weston A. Price Foundation.  I'm only a third of the way through the book, but it takes the reader through the history of fats and why we think low fat is better. I could write another book trying to share all the facts but suffice it to say that if you've fallen for the idea that you will be healthy and lose weight by consuming a low fat diet and using vegetable oils, then you are hurting yourself. Even canola oil which I always used to bake my granola has a story-- it actually puts you at risk for cancer instead of what the doctors and media are saying (even Dr. Oz!!!). How could this be true? Basically what we hear is always affected in some way by the producers of food items, which is why the FDA told you trans fats were safe for so many years. Finally we now know and agree that they aren't. The same goes for canola and vegetable oil... polyunsaturated fats and though canola is monounsaturated, the way it is produced makes it go rancid and unstable at high temperatures (when cooking with it) which is why it is a risk factor for disease. I've been saying butter is healthy and raw milk and grass fed meat... we need vitamin A and D to survive. We need cholesterol. Do you know that in studies, people with lower cholesterol rates had a higher rate of mortality and heart disease than people with higher cholesterol numbers? That there has not been a link with high cholesterol and heart disease? That cholesterol actually protects the heart? I highly suggest reading this book. SO many people have changed their health for the better, their family's health and the proof is the centuries of data that the whole book is based on.  And don't get me started on soy-- it's terrible for you! 

I always believed that people were not meant to be overweight. That people should have energy and feel satisfied after a meal. That we should be able to get most of the nutrients we need from our food and not by swallowing a dozen supplements, especially not synthetic vitamins. When the book French Women Don't Get Fat came out, everyone was curious as to why the French could eat real cream and and things like duck and liver... high fat ingredients, yet still maintain a very healthy, attractive weight. It is quite simple-- they don't believe lies that American doctors spew and have stuck to their traditional diet. (Though younger generations unfortunately might not enjoy the same good health as they embrace our crappy Western junk food.)  Saturated fats keep us healthy-- your brain, your skin, your hair, your heart, your bones, your muscles... everything needs it to be optimally healthy and you don't overeat if you're getting what you need. Why is there such an increase in heart disease, cancer, obesity, autism, orthodontia, depression, allergies and other diseases over this past century? If we look at the change in diet from healthy meats raised on small farms in pastures, whole milk consumption (raw), organic vegetables and fruits, cooking at home, no packaged convenience foods, just foods that our great grandparents enjoyed... to what the average person eats today which is made with the cheapest food ingredients available, vegetable fats, trans fats, sugar substitutes, gmo vegetables, pesticide-full produce, refined wheat flour and fructose and corn and soy in everything then it becomes quite obvious why we are a malnourished, sick population with no immunity system whatsoever. I don't know about you but I want to feel good-- like I'm supposed to. I don't want to take medicine or tons of supplements. It takes more work but what work could be more important than this? Instead of our country spending more on health care, I wonder if they thought about how damaging the food that is available to the average person is? Of course then our pharmaceutical companies and businesses like Monsanto wouldn't be able to patent things and make money. Real food can't be patented.  One thing that makes me the saddest is that we keep sending our terrible food to other countries, especially soda pop and all the junk food we make here. Will it come down to survival of the fittest? Please do me a favor and start reading Sally Fallon's articles... you will be surprised and probably a little mad, like I was (actually I'm furious!), at all the lies we've been believing about our food for so long!!!  Do you know someone on a statin drug for cholesterol? That is reason enough to become informed about what cholesterol is, what it does and why we even have statin drugs in the first place. 

And if I haven't made this clear before, if you're still drinking pop-- why haven't you stopped? You might as well just say you want to be sick. period.