Follower Alert - New BLOG address

This BLOG will remain as an archive. However, all new posts will be taking place at: http://thebearthinstitute.memberlodge.com/TheBEarthInstituteBLOG

There is a link back to this archive BLOG from the main BLOG so if you ever need to look up any past posts it will be easy to do from there.

Perception and The Environment

This post can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Stretching - An Often Ignored "Cure"

This is now located at www.BEarthBLOG.com

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Medication as a Crutch - Not a Cure

This post can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Herbs and Medicine in Germany

This article can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

A Simple Healing Appetizer

Post now located at www.TheBEarthInstitute.com

How Housework Can Heal You

This is now located at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Why I Had Food Poisoning

This post can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

How Can You Tell if Health Information is Valid?

This post can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Beware of Bad Herbal Advice

This article can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Do I Have to Gain Weight to Get the Nutrition I Need?

Question (edited to abbreviate): "I am nutritionally frustrated, and you are someone who will understand. In investigating my sudden onset joint pain, I found that I am anemic. I have never been anemic, and am guessing it may be due to my reduced calorie/reduced red meat diet that allowed me to lose 35 lbs. So today for breakfast I had a bowl of cereal with 5 g fiber and 4 mg iron, prune juice with 2 g fiber and 3.5 mg iron. I added a glass of grapefruit juice with vit C because prune juice has no vit C, and had a strawberry smoothie. This provides 7.5 mg of iron, toward a daily goal of 18, and 10 g fiber toward a daily goal of 25g. It also adds up to 13 Weight Watcher's points, and my daily total is 20 points. Am I going to have to re-gain 35 lbs in order to each enough food to correct my anemia and get enough fiber to avoid getting constipated? I see no option other than to take supplements, and that should not be the way this works. Am I wrong?" - B

Dear B,

This is a great question and a place where herbs are the perfect solution! There are so many herbs that are high in iron and herbal teas have no calories! Some ideas are below:

ROOT TEAS (Make as decoctions)
Choose one or mix together in portions
Burdock
Yellow Dock
Goldenseal
Don Quai
Oregon Grape Root
Pau d'arco

LEAFY TEAS (make as infusions or eat as foods)
Chives
Raspberry leaf tea
Alfalfa
Nettles
Dandelion
Chickweed
Horsetail
Mullein

There are also many dietary solutions to your problem - eating patterns and various foods you can focus on, as well as other therapies you may want to explore. If you would like a full consultation I offer consultations at www.HerbnHome.com

Blessings & Health,
Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND

Carrots and Chlorine

For years I thought I was allergic to carrots. I ate from a variety of sources so I am sure there were a few times I didn't react to them. However, the majority of times I did. I had horrible reactions to them - a catch in the throat and a general feeling of being choked. However, I enjoyed the taste of carrots and for some reason carrot juice never seemed to give me the same problem. Years passed and finally I decided to get new allergy tests. Nothing showed up new - I had the same allergies I had when I was two years old (although interestingly enough many of them don't bother me anymore. I have four cats, for example, and don't have any reaction to them anymore). My favorite carrots were the little mini carrots that were pre-cut. They just seemed so easy. The other place I ate a lot of carrots was when I lived overseas. I ate them fresh from the market.

Have you figured out the mystery yet?

I didn't either. It took me years and years to figure it out until one day I read an article about how packaged carrots are treated with chlorine bleach before going to market. In Egypt, where I was living for a time, it was common for people to soak their vegetables in a weak bleach solution to kill parasites and other contaminants. In both cases I was getting from minute to large doses of bleach - something I am severely allergic to.

I am sharing this story because this happens, not only with carrots but with many food items. You may feel miserable after eating certain foods, but it may not be the food itself - it may be the way it is processed or what is added to it.

Did you know that boxed orange juice most often contains at least a little moldy fruit? This is bad news for people allergic to mold but not allergic to oranges.

Did you know nuts have high mold counts too?

Many salads contain sulfites?

Salad dressings in most restaurants contain MSG?

Some processed meats, chips and canned soups contain gluten?

The list could go on for pages.

So if you are having a reaction to one of your favorite foods it may be helpful to do some research into how it is harvested, stores, transported, processed and displayed. It could be at one of these points that the irritating substance is added and not the food itself. And keep in mind - purchasing organic and/or at the farmer's market will reduce your chances of having a reaction but won't eliminate the chances all together.

Reduce Caffeine in Tea Naturally

This is now located at the new BLOG at: http://earthschooling.info/thebearthinstitute/?page_id=103

Healing Breath by Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND

This can now be found on our new blog www.BEarthBlog.com

Space Clearing Reminder

This post can now be found at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Other Names for MSG

If you look on the sidebar of this blog you will find a few articles I have written on MSG. Not everyone reacts to this substance. However, if you do, it can be devastating. Symptoms can range from headaches to insomnia to heart palpitations. MSG can cause anxiety attacks in some people and much more. I have found some useful links to supplement the articles I have already written on the subject. The first set of links gives you a list of other names for MSG and a little background, the second set of links talks about the many restaurants that use it and the places you will most commonly find it.

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/MSG.htm - along with this there is a list of restaurants that use this at: http://www.msgtruth.org/whywe.htm and:
http://www.rense.com/general52/msg.htm
and
http://www.msgmyth.com/discus/messages/12/12.html

To learn more about eating right you can audit the Nutritional Healing Course or earn a certificate in Nutritional Healing at: www.TheAvicennaInstitute.com

Music and Healing

This can now be found at our new blog: www.BEarthBLOG.com

My Favorite Detox Diet

This post is now on the new BLOG at www.BEarthBlog.com
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What our Children Should Be Eating

When my children were babies and toddlers I had an idea in my head, formed in part by magazine articles, friends, my own mother, etc...about what foods were "healthy" for a growing child. I also had another list of things in my head called "things children will never eat". This list included spinach and lima beans.

However, as my children grew and as I learned more and more about nutrition through my own studies I realized that each person has their own list of "needs and desires". However, my own children have taught me more about this than my formal studies.

Rather than share a philosophy with you I will share some of the likes and dislikes of my youngest child, who is very intuitive.

Sofi dislikes meat. She will not eat it in a box, she will not eat it with a fox, she will not eat it in a house she will not eat it with a mouse...

She has been like this since she was a baby. I am not a complete vegetarian. Most of our meals are vegetarian focused. However, I do use meat as a flavoring because my own body cannot digest beans in any way, shape or form and many alternate protein sources (such as soy) I am allergic to. However, for Sofi she remains completely healthy with her vegetarian fare.

Sofi does not like orange juice, peas, green beans, carrots, oranges, bananas, lettuce or any of these typical "healthy" things I grew up with. For a while I tried to force these foods on her thinking to myself "who does not like orange juice???" However, Sofi's body was more clever than I! I discovered, over time, that she adores Molokia (a spinach like plant), she adores alfalfa sprouts (eats them by the handfuls) and will eat an entire box of raspberries in one sitting!

These were all items on my "kids won't eat" list. However, interestingly enough, these items are power packed with nutrition and are even healthier than the items I was trying to feed her. As a rule, sprouts, any "baby" greens and any berries have more nutrition than their larger vegetable or fruit counterparts.

As time goes on I find out more and more about my children's likes and dislikes and I have found that it is the nutrient value of what they are eating that is important rather than what they are eating. I have discovered that if I allow them to try different foods from different cultures and different gardens that they have more opportunities to find their own likes and dislikes. Instead of making those decisions for them, I now offer them a larger variety of foods and have the rule "you have to at least try it once but you don't have to finish it the first time". Sofi recently discovered she loves oriental orange chicken. I would never have thought she would have liked THAT!

Gone are the days where you have to have a certain amount of food in each of the "four food groups" or those days when everyone needs to have a glass of orange juice with their breakfast. Our focus is now on making sure the foods we eat are high in nutrition, organic when possible and loved by the person who is eating them.

How to Explain MSG to Children

The other day I was trying to explain why MSG is unhealthy for you. However, my 10 and 12-year-old just looked at me with one of those "yah, whatever you say" looks. Obviously I didn't do a very good job of explaining. As many long-time readers know I have a campaign against MSG. It is a harmful flavoring that causes different health problems for different people ranging from stomach aches, insomnia and headaches to more major problems like diabetes, heart problems and cancer. Because of its dangers Chinese restuarants were pressured to take it out of their foods about 8-10 years ago.

What I have found offensive, since then, is that while Chinese restaurants have taken it out of their foods, places like Pizza Hut continue to add it to their sauces and many canned items include it in their sauces and soups. It is still used in many salad dressings and other food items.

However, I am getting "off track" here. If you want to know more about MSG you can visit this BLOG and find the words MSG to the right hand side and look at all the articles there.

This little note was to share an idea a student gave me about how to explain MSG in a way children would understand. She was completing her assignment on nutritional healing and included the following description of MSG:

MSG: Also can be named as hydrolyzed plant protein, natural flavor and Kmbu extract, autolyzed yeast, and yeast extract. The animal based MSG comes from animal blood or decaying protein. It has been linked to learning disorders in children and hyperactivity. Effects include headaches, nausea, diarrhea, mood changes, sleep problems, rash, sweating, and chest pain.

I think when anyone hears the words "animal blood and decaying protein" they will have enough information until they are able to understand the rest. That just sounds unappetizing!