Eating healthy on the cheap can be tough, but if you stock your kitchen with the healthy cheap essentials it should save a great deal in the long run.

I buy certain staples like organic cheese and organic butter when they are on sale and keep them in the freezer.

Consider buying your organic meats, eggs, and fish in bulk and store in a larger freezer out in the garage.

Remember we have to pay for our health one way or another. Prevention is key. The food that graces your kitchen table is the best disease prevention money can buy. President Obama thinks that we will never fix the National Deficit until we fix the Health Care Crisis, I think we will never fix the Health Care Crisis until we fix the crisis at our kitchen tables.

Here are my favorite cheap health foods:

Flax seeds
Oatmeal
Brown Rice
Apples
Yams/Sweet potatoes
Broccoli
Spinach
Canned tomatoes
Carrots
Bananas

Tips I have learned from the Whole Foods School of Hard Knocks:

-Avoid buying a bunch of healthy stuff you don’t know how to prepare. Nothing is more wasteful than a bunch of rotting random veggies in your fridge. Instead, commit to making one new healthy recipe per week, experiment with new ingredients and recipes gradually to avoid wasting valuable grocery dollars. Don’t get overwhelmed by all the different grain options, make friends with them one recipe at a time.

-Drink a smoothie in place of one meal each day. You can easily get two servings of fruits out of the way by doing so. Buy frozen fruit when it is on sale, or save money each summer by picking and freezing your own.

-Shop at Farmer’s Markets for produce once weekly when possible. Plan meals around the foods that are in season, rely heavily on fresh herbs, pepper, garlic, and onions to season your food in lieu of organic sea salt.

-Buy frozen chicken breasts and fish on sale.

-Shop organic when possible, buy “The Dirty Dozen” organic, and save your organic dollars on the “Foods Least Likely to Contain Pesticides”.

-Avoid canned foods and opt for frozen. Always keep a little frozen broccoli, spincach, cauliflower, and mixed veggies in the freezer. You can quickly dress up any recipe by adding some steamed frozen veggies. Add one cup of frozen veggies to every frozen meal you prepare, most veggies will mix in nicely with the sauce. The fiber in the vegetables will keep you feeling full longer.

Remember that eating healthy is an investment in your current and long term health.

By Dr. Nicole Sundene

OK, first of all I will cut to the most asked question- will your kids and family be receiving either the H1N1 shots or a seasonal flu shot? the answer to both is a confidant no.

We have never had seasonal flu shots and we won’t be starting to do so this year despite the fear tactics employed by so many. The key is in building a very strong immune system and knowing your natural means of fighting bugs should you happen to bring any home.

I have seen many articles come across my e-mail based on this topic so I figured I would offer some of them here for your own educational process. I do admit most everything you read here will support my own views, hey, it’s my blog! If you want to read about opposing views, there are many out there and it isn’t hard to find them. I hope this helps you process of deciding where you will stand…

What I know:

• You don’t want to take the chances of getting Guillain-Barre syndrome, a reaction of the body’s immune system from receiving vaccinations. My husband has had it after multiple vaccinations in his early 20’s,  and I was afraid I would loose my fiance at the time, or best case we would have to find a new first apartment with handicap access. Not a good time! Guillain-Barre rates were out of control after the last H1N1 vaccination fiasco in the early 70’s.
• avoid sugar (kills your immune system), get enough rest (elementary children need 10-11 hours a night!), wash your hands (don’t use anti-microbial soaps),  Have positive thoughts (negativity decreases your immune system), manage your stress (stress lowers your immune system), excercise, take vitamin D, take probiotics, cover your mouth with the hollow of your elbow, not your hands that you will then touch things with and spread germs (teach this to your children!), if you are sick or have sick kids STAY HOME!, avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth as much as possible, avoid artificial colorings and flavorings, eat whole, organic foods, avoid processed, packaged, boxed, canned foods, drink lots of pure, non-tap water
• take a good quality multi vitamin, probiotic, vitamin D and multi mineral to boost your immune system. Costco, walgreens, grocery stores and walmart, will not carry quality products!

Info on the H1N1:

Dr. Mercola on the H1N1

SixWise on H1N1

Jon Barron on H1N1

Is the H1N1 vaccine safe:

H1N1 vaccination for children

Info on flu vaccines:

Dr. Mercola on flu vaccines

Jon Barron on the flu

There are too many article out there to list here, these above sites also have other articles on similar topics.

Children should not be treated routinely with flu drugs such as Tamiflu because there is no clear evidence that they prevent complications and the medicines may do more harm than good, British researchers said on Monday.

They called for a reconsideration of the widespread use of antivirals among those under 12 in light of an analysis of clinical data from previous seasonal flu outbreaks showing scant benefits and potentially harmful side effects.

Governments around the world have built up large stockpiles of Roche’s Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza to deal with the H1N1 swine flu pandemic.

In Britain, hundreds of thousands of doses of Tamiflu have been handed out to people with the disease, around half of whom are children.

But Dr. Matthew Thompson from the University of Oxford said that, while antivirals shortened the duration of flu in children by around a day, they didn’t reduce asthma flare-ups or the likelihood of children’s needing antibiotics.

Tamiflu also was linked to an increased risk of vomiting, which can be serious in children because it can result in dehydration.

The analysis was based on a systematic review of seven clinical studies looking at use of Tamiflu and Relenza in seasonal flu outbreaks in 2,629 children aged 1 to 12 years.

There is no reason to think that the conclusions would not apply to the present relatively mild outbreak of swine flu, Thompson said.

Fellow Oxford researcher Dr. Carl Heneghan told reporters, “The strategy of giving out this treatment in a mild infection is inappropriate.”

The researchers also found that 13 people need to be treated to prevent one additional case, meaning that antivirals reduce transmission by a modest 8 percent.

“While morbidity and mortality in the current pandemic remain low, a more conservative strategy might be considered prudent, given the limited data, side effects such as vomiting, and the potential for developing resistant strains of influenza,” they wrote in the British Medical Journal.

Copyright Reuters

Microwaves seriously deplete the nutrients in your food. This is no surprise as all heating methods have a similar effect. However, microwave heating appears to produce the greatest losses.

Microwaves are high frequency electromagnetic waves that alternate in positive and negative directions, causing vibration of molecules up to 2.5 billion times per second. This creates friction and heat that can destroy the fragile structure of vitamins and enzymes.

Consuming microwaved foods may also cause pathological changes in your body. Once a food’s structure is altered, it cannot perform the desired function in your body. Clinical studies show that microwave heating of milk or cooking of vegetables is associated with a decline in hemoglobin levels. These reductions may contribute to anemia, rheumatism, fever, and thyroid deficiency.

To learn more, read The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking.

Here is another good article about using microwaves

The Pesticide Action Network has launched a new online searchable database designed to make the public problem of pesticide exposure visible and more understandable. Whether you want to find out what’s in your apple juice, milk, peanut butter, or bottled water, this innovative tool links pesticide food residue data with the toxicology for each chemical, making this information easily searchable for the first time.

Bookmark this link! and share it with everyone you know!

My nutritional philosophy is, “If it has a label, don’t eat it.”

That said, I realize that’s not always realistic for all of us all of the time. We like to have convenience foods to help us deal with our time crunches, and that’s OK. But I recommend that you read the labels. Choose packaged foods made with real-food ingredients over those with factory-created components.

Be a smart consumer and look for things that are going to help your body thrive. When you pick something up, ask yourself the question: “Is this something my great grandmother would have eaten?” If the answer is “no,” you should probably put it back. Things like frozen blueberries or canned black beans can still be good for you, as long as they don’t contain a bunch of unhealthy and unnecessary ingredients.

STOCKING A HEALTHY PANTRY

Now that you know what to avoid, go to your cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer and toss out any foods that contain the ingredients on the avoid list.

Here’s a list of foods that you can replace in your pantry with healthier foods.

· Refined White Sugar – replace with stevia, agave nectar, honey, brown rice syrup, or Rapadura Whole Cane Organic Unrefined Sugar

· Margarine – replace with organic real butter

· Table Salt – replace with natural Celtic Sea Salt

· Skippy, Jif or other Peanut Butter – replace with natural peanut butter with only two ingredients: peanuts and salt.

· Canned veggies/fruit – eat fresh fruits and veggies

· Soft drinks – good clean water, sparkling water, herbal teas

· Pasta – replace with brown rice pasta, quinoa pasta, or whole wheat pasta if your not sensitive to gluten or wheat.

· White Flour – replace with 100% whole wheat flour, or whole wheat pastry flour or other non-gluten flours.

· White Bread – replace with a good 100% whole grain bread. The ingredient list should be short with only a few ingredients such as whole wheat flour, yeast, honey, salt.

· Crackers – replace with whole grain crackers – try Ak-Mak, Mary’s Gone Crackers, or Back to Nature Harvest Whole Wheats

· Breakfast Cereals – Go with a whole grain one, look for short ingredient lists.

Written by Dee McCaffrey, CDC

I routinely tell my kids to pass when they are offered hand sanitizers. Not only are we forcing germs to get stronger and more resistant by using all of the anti-bacterial products that we use, we are also doing our bodies a disservice by exposing ourselves to more chemicals that will stress our immune function instead of just making choices that build our immune system so we can naturally withstand germs on a daily basis.  If we are in a situation that requires instant sanitation and good old water isn’t around, I will have them use either a special essential oil blend i carry in my purse or we will on occasions use a silver gel on our hands. The gel you can purchase here, or contact me, I can order it for you and I also carry it in my office.

Healthy Blessings, Shari

Beware of Alcohol Poisoning via Hand Sanitizers   By Dr. Ben Kim on March 05, 2009

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Some brands of hand sanitizers, including gels and wipes, contain levels of alcohol that can potentially cause alcohol poisoning if ingested.

This warning is especially relevant for parents and teachers at day cares, preschools, and elementary schools, as young children who don’t know better than to lick curious-smelling substances from their hands can experience alcohol poisoning from accidental ingestion of common hand sanitizers like Germ-X and Purell.

Common symptoms of alcohol poisoning include:

• Dazed, glassy-eyed look
• Wobbly gait
• Mental confusion
• Fussiness
• Exhaustion
• Weakness

Hand sanitizers that contain alcohol should never be accessible to children without supervision. And whenever possible, it’s best to use plain soap and water to promote good hygiene rather than rely on gels and wipes that contain alcohol.

Many years ago, I worked at a multidisciplinary clinic where a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine routinely recommended using rubbing alcohol as an agent to apply various herbs to the skin of patients. Unfortunately, it took a young child patient to suffer serious alcohol poisoning for that practitioner to understand the dangers of using any substance with alcohol around the mouth and other major pores.

Please share this warning on the potential dangers of using hand sanitizers and other substances that contain alcohol with family members, friends, and any teachers and day care staff members that you know. Thank you.

I have been trying to clue the people I know and love in on the severe conflict of interest the government and big pharma are involved with for a long time, but I get the feeling there is going to be more and more bell ringers exposing this kind of deceit. Just last month it came out that drugmaker AstraZeneca “buried” unfavorable studies on its antipsychotic drug Seroquel that showed it may cause diabetes and other health problems.

You and only you are responsible for you and your families health. Be very cautious toward prescription drugs, don’t always rely on your doctor or medical journals. If your gut instinct says “beware” then search for alternatives because most likely there are always a better ways lurking out there, only you won’t usually find them within mainstream medicine…

Read more below and for the entire story from Dr. Mercola

Scott S. Reuben, a prominent Massachusetts anesthesiologist, allegedly fabricated 21 medical studies that claimed to show benefits from painkillers like Vioxx and Celebrex.

Baystate Medical Center said Reuben had faked data used in the studies, which were published in several anesthesiology journals between 1996 and 2008. The hospital has asked the medical journals to retract the studies. The studies reported favorable results from the use of painkillers Bextra and Vioxx — both since withdrawn — as well as Celebrex and Lyrica. Dr. Reuben’s research work also claimed positive findings for the antidepressant Effexor XR as a pain killer.

The retractions, first reported in Anesthesiology News, have caused anesthesiologists to reconsider the use of certain practices adopted as a result of Dr. Reuben’s research. His work was considered important in encouraging doctors to combine the use of painkillers like Celebrex and Lyrica for patients undergoing common procedures such as knee and hip replacements.

Sources:

Wall Street Journal March 11, 2009

Sources:
Squidoo January 23, 2009