Raw Living Foods Lifestyle - chiDiet.net

The Difference Between a Disease and a Mental Disorder

This video shows the difference between a physical disease and a psychiatric mental "disorder".

See more in my playlists at http://www.youtube.com/chidiet

Depression Test Puts Kids' Health at Risk

Depression screening may lead to drug treatment for millions of kids across the United States, with drugs that are known to cause suicide and violence. We know from experience that the best treatment for depression is a healthy diet of raw fruits and veggies, fresh air and exercise. Not drugs.

Standard American Diet poisoning our children

UCSF researcher and nationally renowned obesity expert Dr. Robert Lustig has theorized that the obesity epidemic is caused by a "poisoned" food supply that is actually altering the population's biochemistry.

The processed foods most readily available to Americans are causing them to eat more and move less. He has based his hypothesis on results culled from thousands of obesity studies: http://www.mercola.com/2006/aug/29/western_diet_promotes_toxic_foods_that_poison_your_children.htm.

Storm and Jinjee kids' weight and height charts

My new blog is on the kids' new weight and height chart comparisons - a sort-of follow up to the information in our film - and a bit about their diet with new photos:  http://www.thegardendiet.com/kidsblog.

In Joy,
Jinjee

Common Plastics May Increase Your Child's Obesity Risks

Endocrine-disrupting environmental chemicals, including some found in everyday plastics and pesticides, may influence obesity. When fetuses are exposed to these chemicals, their gene function may be altered, causing a greater risk of obesity and disease.

An individual exposed to these chemicals as a fetus could eat the same thing and exercise the same amount as someone with a normal metabolic system, but be far more likely to become obese.

Researchers examined the effects of these chemicals, including bisphenol-A, on lab mice. They caused the mice to be born with abnormally low birth weights, and then gain abnormally large amounts of weight over a short period, more than doubling their body weight in just a week.

The mice were then obese throughout their lives. Similar effects have been observed in low birth weight children.

Read more: http://pressesc.com/01171667140_plastics_obesity
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070218140845.htm

The dangers of feeding soy milk to your infant

From Dr. Mercola:

Two vegan parents have been convicted of murder and given life sentences in prison for starving their 6-week-old baby to death.

Though the parents may have thought they were doing the right thing, they were feeding their child a completely inadequate combination of soy milk and apple juice along with a small, but insufficient, amount of breast milk.

Now, soy experts are again calling for clear and proper warning labels on all soy milk products -- indicating that it should NEVER be used in place of infant formula -- following this and several other babies' hospitalizations or deaths under similar circumstances.

Soy infant formula, which currently constitutes 25 percent of the bottle-fed market, is required by law to be heavily supplemented with vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids that are not found in brands of soy milk. Though it does not pose an immediate danger to babies, as is the case with soy milk, the Israeli Health Ministry, French Food Agency, British Dietetic Associations and other government bodies have warned parents and pediatricians that it poses health risks to the developing baby and should only be used as a last resort.

WholeSoyStory.com May 11, 2007

Overweight toddlers may be at risk for adult obesity

About 60% of toddlers and preschoolers who are overweight or obese during their preschool years still weigh too much at age 12, setting them on a path toward adult obesity and its attendant health problems, a study finds.

USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-09-05-overweight-kids_x.htm.

Original Pediatrics article: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/3/e594.

Very little drug research on children exists to help doctors

Finding out how prescription drugs affect children isn't easy, even for pediatricians, a new study says.

That's because very little research on children and drugs is published in medical journals that help guide doctors on treatment. The result is that some prescribe the wrong dose or use drugs that could be harmful to kids: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060912/ap_on_he_me/research_in_kids_3.

Delay can stop unneeded drug usage

(Reuters) - Telling parents to wait 48 hours before filling a prescription for antibiotics so they can see if their child's ear infection clears up on its own can help curb overuse of the drugs, researchers said: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060912/hl_nm/antibiotics_dc_1.

Why the South Beach Diet doesn't work in schools

Many organizations are attempting to help make school lunches healthier, including the Agatston Research Foundation (founded in 2004 by Dr. Arthur Agatston, the creator of the South Beach Diet).

But there is little evidence that the changes being made to the school lunch menus are actually helping obese children lose weight.

A study of more than 1,700 students over three years showed no change in the body-mass index of students whose schools had spent $20 million changing their menus, exercise programs and nutritional education.

Another study of more than 5,000 students had similar results. While there is a good deal of evidence that proper nutrition and exercise should help, the revisions made to school lunch menus seem to be having little effect.

In the case of the attempts made by the Agatston Foundation, some of the problems come from the fact that school kitchens are unequipped to prepare food in healthier ways (such as by making  sweet-potato fries that are cut fresh, rather than commercially cut and frozen), or are simply unable to obtain healthier foods for reasons of price or bureaucracy. Some children, faced with a healthier menu, simply start bringing in unhealthy food from home.

Perhaps more importantly, many of the food substitutions are simply lower-fat versions of extremely unhealthy snack foods, which add little health value to the meal.

http://www.mercola.com/2006/sep/7/why_the_south_beach_diet_doesnt_work_in_schools.htm

Child's digestive enzyme health linked to optimum adult health

Dr. Lipski writes that "Many of children's health problems such as ADD, obesity, autism, asthma, depression, and diabetes actually stem from poor food choices and faulty digestion. Much of this illness is preventable, controllable, and curable."

The ability to digest food properly to access nutrients depends on the enzymatic balance in the digestive system, which is determined in the womb, and strongly influenced by childhood diet and lifestyle.

While it was once thought that a child's bacterial and intestinal flora was balanced by the age of three, research is now showing that there is not actual balance until puberty is reached. Fresh foods are a great source of enzymes, and feeding children a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables every day is important.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/7/prweb410883.htm

[source: Veggies in Motion News]

Dumbing down America... intentionally

Why are people so resistant to Raw Living Foods? It has to do with the way we've been educating in America for the last 100 years. Read "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling," by John Taylor Gatto.

Library Journal says: "In this tenth-anniversary edition, Gatto updates his theories on how the U.S. educational system cranks out students the way Detroit cranks out Buicks. He contends that students are more programmed to conform to economic and social norms rather than really taught to think."

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865714487/httpwwwfutuor-20/102-9535290-6658545?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=1789&link%5Fcode=xm2

Children with ADD being educated without drugs

Breakthroughs in Education

Children with ADD are being educated without drugs at the Hunter School, in a program based on the model created by National radio personality Thom Hartman, an alumnus of CHI and author of the book, "Finding Health In Hodunk."

The Hunter School: http://www.hunterschool.org/

Thom's website: http://thomhartmann.com/

Raising vegan children in a non-vegan world

A free newsletter, and 50% off on the book: http://www.vegfamily.com/.

Animal School - a short video

Animal School - If animals went to school - a short video on individuality: http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/wp-content/themes/179/aschool.html. [Highly recommended - Jim]

Making fruits and veggies into fun sculptures for the kids

My friend Joz just sent me this link for the kids - thanks Joz!! This is too cute not to share!! Recipes for kids made out of all fruits and vegetables, made to look like all kinds of fun stuff - race cars, houses, animals, and more.

I think this will inspire my children to explore their more artistic sides and experiment with new recipes at the same time! They'll also be happy to know that other children eat this kind of stuff too! :)  http://www.msss.gouv.qc.ca/nutrition/cru-cru/en/home.php

Have Fun!
Jinjee
http://www.thegardendiet.com/

Author Karen Ranzi writes about the passion that led her to write a book on raising healthy children on raw foods

In raising my two wonderful children, I have had to learn on my own all of the incredible, mindful, meaningful ways of bringing up children. When my first child was born, in 1987, I had no mother to help me, as my mother had died seven years earlier at the young age of 57. My mother-in-law lives in Colombia, South America, and my closest friends were single and childless. I had little information to go on except that my loving father frequently told me how important it would be for me to nurse my child. He had wanted my mother to breastfeed my sister and I when we were infants, but after two weeks of nursing me she gave up because her doctor told her it would be better and easier to bottle feed.

Read more: http://www.rawfoodsnewsmagazine.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=182&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.

Karen's video is available at http://chidiet.com/tapes.htm#v36.

Feedback - Ian Clark

Hi Jim,

I read your brief bio in the wheatgrasskits.com email today. What a great testimony and I really appreciate where are you are coming from and what you are now doing to help others. I just recently found out about the benefits of wheatgrass and have started growing the grass and sunflower sprouts at home (planting and harvesting 8 trays a day now).

We have seven children of which all are on the Wheatgrass juice and Sunflower sprouts throughout the day plus eating 99% raw living foods. The children are still moving through the final transition to completely raw food. I am drinking about 10 ounces a day of the wheatgrass juice and about 12 ounces of the sunflower sprout juice and am starting to see remarkable changes. Fortunately, I was told about using ocean solution to feed the plants and that made a huge difference with the 90 plus minerals in the grass. The Sunflower sprouts apparently absorb a bit less minerals but are still very powerful. Are you using any ocean solution for your grass also?

I have lost about 85 pounds so far and feel like I am 21 again. I expect to go through a lot more detox and cleansing in general over the next year or two. The person that showed me this beautiful way of giving the body nutrition has been doing this for the last 2 years and is an amazing example of excellent health.

Looking forward to your reply,

Kind Regards,
Ian Clark
Brampton, ON

Vitamin D sunshine still under attack

Amazingly there are still 'expert' delusional physicians in the U.S. who oppose the healthy use of sun exposure: http://www.mercola.com/2006/jul/18/vitamin_d_sunshine_advocate_still_under_attack.htm.

The BIG story

The BIG story - "What's for Lunch?" - Become an expert at reading -- and using -- the info on food labels. Lots of other dietary articles targeted to children and parents: http://www.kidsregen.org/bigStory/.

Banning recess boosts childhood obesity

Eliminating traditional childhood games because paranoid educators believe they are dangerous will worsen the obesity epidemic: http://www.mercola.com/2006/jul/11/banning_recess_boosts_childhood_obesity.htm.

More raw kids

Victoria Boutenko and Karen Ranzi are two well-known Living Foods lecturers that raised wonderful raw kids. Here's another family - raw home-schoolers: http://www.waldorfhomeschoolers.com/raw.htm. Kytka has lots of great living foods links on her page, too.

A study on the effect of a live food diet on preadolescent children

A Study on the Effect of a Live Food Diet on Preadolescent Children by Measuring Height and Weight

Preliminary Results (June 2004)
- by Gabriel Cousens, M.D.

The Tree of Life Foundation, under the direction of Gabriel Cousens, M.D., M.D. (H), is involved in a study of the effects of a live food diet on the growth patterns of pre-pubescent children as measured by height and weight.

At this stage, the preliminary data shows that the heights of 74 percent of the children are above the lowest 25th percentile and the weights of 68 percent of the children are above the lowest 25th percentile.

All children were above the lowest 10th percentile. In fact, the heights of 37% of the children are actually above the upper 75th percentile, which is above average. Over 60 percent of the children are above average for both height and weight as measured by The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

It is important to note that the height and weight of the raw food children are in these ranges without being influenced by the stimulating effects of growth hormones - to which the majority of non-vegan children are exposed.

It is interesting to note that the National Center for Health and Statistics (2001) shows the average weight for children “has doubled” while heights have remained the same. This suggests that we have a serious obesity problem in US children.

Study nixes Benadryl for putting babies to sleep

(Reuters) - An antihistamine most commonly sold as Benadryl does little to help infants sleep through the night even though parents and some doctors think it does, according to a study published on Monday: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060703/hl_nm/sleep_dc_1.

How you can help improve food in your child's school

Two Angry Moms is a documentary work-in-progress that asks the question: What happens when two "fed-up" moms try to change school lunch? http://www.mercola.com/2006/jun/20/how_you_can_help_improve_food_in_your_childs_school.htm.

Seven ways to improve dinner with your family - and its mental health

   The traditional family dinner, so engrained in American culture, yet seemingly disappearing from many families' daily routine, is just as important as experts have been saying, according to this Time magazine article -- and it may be making a comeback: http://www.mercola.com/2006/jun/20/seven_secret_ways_to_improve_dinner_with_your_family.htm.

Feedback - Gloria

Hello Steven and Jim,

I must share with you that I am very happy with the home study course.

The big plus is something I would not easily achieve coming for a stay at Creative Health. Although a visit is my future plans.

My children have been watching the videos with me. All three have done wheatgrass shots. Their ages are 10, 12 and 18. I firmly believe hearing the benefits of this lifestyle from the tapes, as opposed to "just Mom," is vesting them into at least trying.

Thank you for making this available.

Blessings
Gloria

Feedback - Gloria

Hello Steven and Jim,

I must share with you that I am very happy with the home course.

The big plus is something I would not easily achieve coming for a stay at Creative Health. Although a visit is my future plans.

My children have been watching the videos with me. All three have done wheatgrass shots. Their ages are 10, 12 and 18. I firmly believe hearing the benefits of this lifestyle from the tapes, as opposed to 'just Mom,' is vesting them into at least trying.

Thank you for making this available.

Blessings
Gloria

Raw parenting tips to remember

Raw Parenting - General Tips to Remember
by Karen Ranzi

1) Try different textures. For example, a child may not like a banana, but may enjoy it in smoothies, sauces or [raw] ice cream.

2) Have fruits and vegetables around the kitchen in pretty baskets and brightly colored bowls. The varied colors of the foods in the child's everyday environment will attract them.

3) Name the foods you make with lively or catchy titles! My kids created their own recipes, even from the time they were very little, and then gave names to the recipes, or we got named recipes from certain recipe books.

Seedy Kiwi - by my daughter Gabriela
Cashew Lasagna - by Gabriela and Marco
Bianca Pops - from Sweet Temptations
BAT (Banana, Apple and Tahini) by Gabriela and Marco
Apple Yum Yum (Apple + Carrot Salad) by Beth Montgomery

TV does more damage to your kids that you realize

You might have known TV could make kids fat, but did you know it can lead to cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease?

-- http://www.mercola.com/2007/mar/6/tv-does-more-damage.htm.

Drugs for ADHD "Not the Answer"

(BBC News) Treating children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with drugs is not effective in the long-term, research has shown.

A study obtained by the BBC's Panorama programme says drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta work no better than therapy after three years of treatment.

The findings by an influential US study also suggested long-term use of the drugs could stunt children's growth.

It said that the benefits of drugs had previously been exaggerated.

Department of Health Statement: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7090463.stm

The complete BBC News article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7090011.stm

Vegan Kids - Cool School Lunches

As you know by now, all parents have a different idea of what is healthy food and what is not. For years, you have had the opportunity to hand select and monitor what your child eats for lunch.

Now it is time to test their ability. It is only natural for your child's eyes to wander and notice, and be envious of, what the other kids are eating. Here are a few tips that may help your child's lunch be healthy, fun and get noticed by the other kids...

http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-children/cool-school-lunches.htm

Fun with Club Soda and Baked Beans

Fun with Club Soda and Baked Beans
by Chet Day

Wanna make a poor man's lava lamp? Fill a glass with club soda and drop in a couple of raisins. The carbonation will cause the raisins to repeatedly bob to the surface and then sink again.

Finally, a tip from my childhood when we were very poor. We never could afford bubble bath solution, so Ma used to serve a big pot of baked beans for Saturday evening dinner. That way we children had Saturday night bubble baths every week of the year, just like the Vanderbilts.

From http://chetday.com

Worldwide Obesity Epidemic

This past Wed., a famous researcher spoke to the listening audience of medical doctors in the teleconference put on by PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine). He shared a map of the world where the most dark spots were people who were more than 30% overweight or obese. I was shocked to see Australia, Mexico, many parts of China, Japan, the fertile crescent area countries, in those most dark spots - thinking that they would mostly come from Russia, Northern Canada and Alaska, as well as the US.

He said in his talk and in his published reports that it was from the vegetable oils and soda pops, watching tv and the greater availability of processed foods and animal products that people are obese now. And, it was affecting the women more than men. Also, that people of African and oriental descent were having more problems with heart disease and diabetes, with less help, because the fat is stored in their livers and heart areas instead of being disbursed as it does in Nordic or cold country peoples. A photo of a woman in Egypt in front of tvs she was selling was shocking because she was so large. The worst foods he mentioned were soda and pizza.

This triggered my memory about how when people fry food in vegetable oils, or add vegetable oils (yes, even the best virgin virgin olive oils), that the oils react with the starches and the animal proteins and create a super-glue type of bond that prevents the body from sweating the oil out.

Another thing: I was given a whole lot of baby food this month to share with others: much of it was organic. The 3 brands all had vitamin C added, to even step 1 (around 6 months), and some had calcium added.

I offered it to my ESOL class mothers, and one mother tasted about 3 types before she took it and then put the bottles back. I didn't ask her why but decided to look at them myself. I tasted a little of each and immediately got a headache, which affected my brain stem, and then was affected by a cramp in my left hand which has lasted for almost a week, weakening my grip and then also a stomach ache. I then began to crave more almond cream than I normally would use, and more avocado. My body was trying to heal itself from the acid of the calcium and vitamin C destruction in my epithelial lining. WOW!

Do you suppose the colic that babies have has a lot to do with the vitamin C and the calcium they are putting in the baby food? My throat got sore (some wheatgrass juice helped that) and my ear canals felt swollen and sore (the wheat grass juice helped all of the symptoms, except the weakness in my left hand, which I think is coming from my 7th and 8th vertebra damage by the C and calcium). I know how to heal this, with some fresh pineapple juice and energy soup, but I thought you might be able to share this with some young mothers who might be at their wits end wondering why their babies are unhappy.

Breast milk is all a baby needs until the 2nd year, with some wonderful  coconut juice, papaya, avocado, etc. as supplement after the 6th month. We need to get together and complain to the companies to get those supplements out of the babies' food. I spoke at the 2nd Calcium Conference at NIH about how according to the French doctor Kirvran we didn't need any calcium to make our bones stronger, just foods with potassium, maganesium and silica, which turn into bone calcium, and even then the supplement people were lobbying the doctors to add calcium, which does nothing but plaque onto our arteries and the exterior of our bones and cause lumps and early heart attacks (women spill calcium in their blood just before having a heart attack) and arthritis. We need to save the babies inner peace.

Peace and love,
Dr. Flora

Kids buy lunches with finger scans

ROME, Ga., Sep. 5, 2006
(AP) The never-ending march of technology now means school children here can pay for their cafeteria sloppy joes with their fingers.

Rome City Schools is switching to a scanning system that lets students use their fingerprints to access their accounts. In the past, students had to punch in their pin numbers.

"The finger's better because all you've got to do is put your finger in, and you don't have to do the number and get mixed up," said Adrianna Harris, a second grader at Anna K. Davie Elementary School.

Many parents are concerned about having their minor children fingerprinted: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/05/ap/strange/mainD8JULN4G0.shtml.

- thanks to Steven Gibb

Antidepressants increase risk of suicide in children

A study involving nearly 5,500 adults and children has added to the evidence that common antidepressants increase suicide risk for children and adolescents.

The study found that children aged 6 to 18 who were treated with antidepressants were 1.5 times more likely to attempt suicide, and 15 times more likely to die of the attempt than children who were diagnosed with depression but did not receive drug treatment.

Adults who used the drugs did not show a similar trend, and the risk appeared to be linked to certain types of antidepressants and not others.: http://www.mercola.com/2006/aug/26/kids_dont_need_suicidal_antidepressants.htm.

Why giving flu vaccine during pregnancy doesn't make sense

A comprehensive review of the scientific reasons why the U.S. government decision to vaccinate all pregnant women is fatally flawed: http://www.mercola.com/2006/jul/11/why_giving_the_flu_vaccine_during_pregnancy_doesnt_make_any_sense.htm.

Asthma and children

1/6 of all school-age children in Georgia have asthma, and missed 540,000 days of school last year because of it (source: Georgia State Legislature debate on PBS, 3/2005).

Read what the Living Foods Lifestyle did for Valya Boutenko's asthma (she's a marathon runner and flute player, now): http://rawfamily.com.

The Boutenko family studied Dr. Ann at Creative Health Institute. You can do the same, at home: http://chiDiet.com.

Feedback - Becki Campbell

Hi Jim!

The new look is great!

I love the Veggie Art!!! Great ideas for future children's nutrition classes!

Thanks so much!

Becki Campbell

The Miracle All-Natural Lice Treatment

Found at http://www.wackyuses.com/lice.html

Medicated lice shampoos are often ineffective and may cause brain damage in children if left on head even ten minutes longer than the manufacturer's recommended time.

Mayonnaise costs much less, it's completely safe, and it will kill all lice on the head as well as their nits (eggs). Plus it's a great conditioner! To kill (actually smother) head lice completely, follow these simple instructions:

Step 1 Saturate hair completely with Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise, Best Real Mayonnaise, or Kraft Real Mayonnaise. Be sure to work the mayonnaise in the hair and roots well. Hair MUST be extremely greasy from the mayonnaise to prevent lice from breathing.

Step 2 Wrap hair as tightly as possible with Saran Wrap or Handi-Wrap (or a shower cap), then wrap with a towel.

Step 3 Allow to remain on head for at least one hour. Two hours will guarantee all the lice are dead. During this time, take all pillow cases, towels, blankets, sheets, and clothes that have come into contact with any lice infested hair and run them through the washing machine and dryer.

Step 4 Shampoo hair thoroughly.
Rinse hair with Heinz White Vinegar, then rinse clean with water.
Comb hair with a nit comb if desired.
No nits should survive this treatment if done properly.
Congratulations! You're done!

There's no need to repeat the treatment in seven days as with medicated shampoos. Don't worry about any lice that may have escaped during the treatment. Lice die within 12 to 24 hours without a human head to feed on and, contrary to popular belief, they cannot jump nor will they transfer to your pets.

From http://chetday.com.

Having a Baby? Eat Apples

Do you want your child to be free of asthma? If so, you should eat lots of apples while you are pregnant, a new Scottish study suggests. Researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland found that 5-year-old children whose mothers had eaten the most apples during pregnancy were least likely to experience wheezing episodes or doctor-confirmed asthma.

Raw Foods and Homeschooling

Homeschooling Mom enjoying the benefits of Raw Living Foods - a nice blog: http://rediscoverrawfood.blogspot.com/2007/11/progress-report.html

Healthy School Cafeterias Save Money

A new study in the December issue of the Review of Agricultural Economics puts to rest the myth that serving nutritious meals in schools will turn off kids and break the school budget.

School lunch programmers often make the claim that junk foods, like hot dogs, nachos and pizza, must be served in cafeterias, because healthy food is too expensive and kids won't buy it anyway.

In contrast, researchers analyzed 330 school districts over a five year period and found that shifting school lunch programs towards healthier foods does not reduce student demand and ultimately saves the school money.

While serving better meals requires higher labor costs, those expenses are offset by lower costs for more nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables compared with processed foods.

Learn more about how you can help your child's school integrate healthier foods into the cafeteria by visiting http://www.organicconsumers.org/afc.cfm.

Teething and a Raw Baby

Yarrow is six months old now and reaching out for sweet glistening colorful fruits whenever I’m handling them. They say you know your baby is ready to eat solids when they start watching you eat. And it is interesting that fruits are the things that really attract her. Nothing else has such appeal! - pun unintended.

So far she’s teething on pieces of apples and hard persimmons that she can hold, but are big enough that she can’t choke on them. Soon I’ll be straining soft fruits and feeding them to her with a spoon but so far she doesn’t seem to want to swallow the mushy stuff. She is growing really big just nursing for now.

In Joy!
Jinjee
http://www.TheGardenDiet.com

Antidepressants increase risk of suicide in children

State mandated drugging of children as young as three years old is a disturbing yet growing trend. Here Gregory Hession, J.D., recounts one of his cases where he tried, in vain, to uphold a heartbroken mother’s wishes not to drug her six-year-old mildly autistic son, who had been taken into state custody after her refusal.

Without the presence of a single doctor, the court decided to put the child on five powerful anti-psychotic drugs, even though none of these drugs have been approved by the FDA for use in children.

Peter Breggin, M.D., author of Toxic Psychiatry and other books about the use of psychiatric drugs, maintains that no psychiatric drug treatment corrects or improves existing brain dysfunction (such as a biochemical imbalance.) This, he says, is a major misunderstanding about psychiatry that the profession tries to hide because it places these drugs outside the scope of proper treatment for mental disorders.

The central reason for today’s mental health diagnoses run amok is the fact that without a diagnosis code, your insurance company cannot reimburse your mental health provider.

All mental health diagnoses are codified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), originally published in 1952 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). At that time, it had 112 entries.

Since then the APA has added hundreds more, based on the current whims of the profession and the most current in-vogue maladies.

The current DSM-IV and the soon to be released DSM-V include such gems as:

• Mathematics disorder
• Caffeine disorder
• Disorder of Written Expression
• Telephone Scatialogia
• Malingering 

These absurd codes make it possible for your mental health professional to invoice for your visit, no matter how normal or innocent the real problem might be. And with the bill comes a label, and most often a drug.

- Dr. Mercola’s comments:

For the last several years, we have known that antidepressants significantly increase the risk of suicide in children. They have also been associated with violent behavior, which would likely trigger yet additional psychotropic medications for these innocent children.

What’s even more troubling is that parents can now face criminal charges if they refuse to medicate, or decide to stop their child’s medications after seeing the negative side effects.

These medicines may provide some benefit in some extreme cases where an actual mental disorder exists. However, most of these diagnoses are fraudulent to begin with, and these drugs -- in no way, shape, or form -- even begin to treat the foundational cause of your child’s behavioral problem.

Throwing antipsychotic drugs -- particularly off-label concoctions meant for adults -- at kids is one of the worst abuses of conventional medicine. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that once conventional medicine's consciousness evolves, they will look at the current standard of care in prescribing anti-psychotic drugs to kids as equivalent to tobacco companies advertising cigarettes in professional medical journals.

How to Correct Behavioral Problems Without Drugs

The key strategy to protecting your child or children from state mandated drugging with a drug very similar to cocaine, is to make sure your child does not have any of these behaviors…

Fortunately, that is a simple step to take.

Behavioral problems in children are very frequently related to improper diet, and exposure to toxins. I have treated many thousands of children with ADHD and autism and have seen most of them improve in some way and frequently quite dramatically. Many completely normalize once we address the underlying causes, which are almost always related to these factors:

• Lack of high-quality omega-3 fats
• Excess of grains and sugars, along with soft drinks and fruit juices in their diets
• Exposure to toxins like mercury in vaccines
• The foods your children eat have a far more profound influence on their emotions than you may think. This is particularly true for sugars and grains that require insulin to metabolize them. Elevated insulin levels will lead to disrupted serotonin and other neurochemicals, which will lead to depression.

It’s downright tragic that wonderful tools like high-quality fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, are not used more frequently.

Sixty percent of your brain is composed of fat and half of that fat is DHA, one of the fats in fish oil. Your body can't make it, and if you don't supply it through your diet you will suffer neurological complications.

Exercise can also be beneficial in helping children with emotional disturbances of all kinds. Today many children lead sedentary lifestyles with little physical activity, which can add to the natural inclination of children to “act out.”

Other tools, which I’ve found to be more effective than traditional psychotherapy, are energy psychology tools such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Consulting with an EFT professional can be an amazing start. Dr. Patricia Carrington has some guidelines on selecting an EFT therapist, followed by a list of EFT practitioners throughout the United States and the world.

There are indeed some basic options that do not include drugging your child. These simple interventions mentioned above could change their entire life.

From Dr. Mercola, with related articles: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/11/10/forced-medication-could-your-child-be-next.aspx

Helping Kids Appreciate Raw Foods

A few tricks to help kids learn to appreciate raw foods...

let them plant a garden
let them harvest and munch while they are harvesting
go berry-picking
go to a U-pick orchard
visit an organic farm
help them plant some lettuce in a pot
let them chop up all kinds of veggies and make a salad bar
help them invent recipes
put some greens in a fruit smoothie
keep their favorite fruits around in bowls
put some plain celery or parsley in front of them when they’re watching TV
send extra fruits to school for them to share with friends
download some free posters advertising fruit at http://www.TakeAFruitBreak.com

In Joy!
http://www.TheGardenDiet.com

Bones in the Dishwasher

Our dishwasher isn’t draining, so I was working on it last night, manual in hand. Adagio and Shale were watching interestedly, as I read aloud from the manual to be careful when cleaning the filter as it may contain bits of glass or bones.

The kids were confused about the bones so I explained that most people eat meat, and the bones might end up in the dishwasher.

They were seriously horrified! Their wrinkled-nosed expressions looked as if they were watching the world’s biggest gross-out!

Their reaction is quite interesting. Bones in the dishwasher does sound rather like an anachronistic horror movie, when you think about it. It makes me sure that someday in the future people will look back on this meat-eating era the way we now look at cannibalism.

In Joy!
Jinjee
http://www.TheGardenDiet.com

Do schools kill creativity?

Do schools kill creativity? A 20-minute video: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66.

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it.

With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize -- much less cultivate - the talents of many brilliant people.

"We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: "If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, please stop whatever you're doing and watch it now."

40-year-old raw vegan delivers 5th child at home

Our dear friend Jinjee of The Garden Diet delivered Yarrow, her fifth child, at home on June 2nd, 2007, with natural childbirth methods. Here's the story of her pregnancy and Yarrow's birth: http://jinjee1.securesites.net/kidsblog/.

This photo was taken 10 days later. Not bad, eh?

An excerpt from her blog:

"I'm amazed that at 40 years old, my body is still recovering quickly from pregnancy and labor, returning to its normal shape in about a week. I'm up and about tidying the house and doing errands within a few days. I know I have the raw vegan diet and daily exercise during pregnancy to thank...."

Congratulations, Jinjee, Storm and Yarrow!

Fast food industry applauding itself again

Responding to public pressure, junk food companies have formed a task force that they claim will address the childhood obesity epidemic.

The group, which includes companies like Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Kraft Foods, held its first meeting at the end of March. One of the first items on the agenda was how to greenwash the routine industry practice of advertising junk foods to young children. Advertisers spend more than $10 billion annually on manipulating the minds of children.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, children under the age of six cannot distinguish between program content and advertising. Despite this rather undisputed fact, one of the panel's experts, the chief government affairs officer of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, applauded the junk food industry's track record and offered kudos to the current practice of self-regulation saying, "For more than three decades, the self-regulatory guidelines of the Children's Advertising Review Unit have helped to ensure that advertising to children by food companies is age and nutritionally appropriate, and reflects a balanced approach to health and nutrition."

According to task force members, it is hoped that future meetings can be as productive, although the meeting concluded with no real changes to the status quo practices of advertising junk foods to children.
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4680.cfm