Moving Strongly Forward

Everyday Paleo Cookbook

Tonight I finally had time to seriously go through Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo cookbook. Wow! I was drooling all the way. Great uses of ingredients and food combinations that I wouldn’t have thought of that I know will make fantastic meals. As an added bonus, prep time is reportedly rarely over 15 minutes and often is much less. I usually need to add an extra five or ten minutes because that is just how I am, but still, that amount of prep time is very doable.

Tomorrow we start with Puerto Rican Beef and the guys are excited!

My biggest deviation from the cookbook? I will NEVER purchase broth from a store. Broth is such an important food from a health and taste perspective that I will only use my own. Go to the Recipes section of my blog to learn how to easily make it, and search for broth on my blog to learn why BROTH is SO IMPORTANT!

 

The Combs Santas Were Good to Me

It is a couple of days after Christmas, and I have had a chance to play with my new gifts. What does a real food loving, learning to work out with heavy things person get for Christmas?

1. Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo cookbook. While I wanted the book, the boys were very happy to give it to me. They must be looking for some new food variety and this will do it.
2. An Extreme Upper Body Workout Bar – Yay! I am up to three pull-ups and now have many options to practice. And the boys are pulling too.
3. An ab roller. Just do an Internet search for one. I can do planks all day, but this ab roller is a whole new beast. Got turned on to it by Mark Sisson, who posted about the RawBrahs. These guys are so unfreakin’ believable in their strength. I will probably never be able to do one thing they do, but what the heck – always something new to shoot for.
4. Love. Lots and lots of love. And adventure. And smiles. I am really blessed to have my family. 

 

Gratefulness

Gratefulness is a large chunk of being healthy. I am not going to go on about the many people and things for whom I am grateful, other than to say that I am grateful for my family, friends, getting older, wisdom and possibilities.

When I look beyond my family of three, however, the amount of drama, angst and absurdity that others have created for themselves is…I don’t know what to call it. It is the reality that they have created, it is a reality that they clearly are uncomfortable with, and it is a reality they are not changing.

It has been a tough holiday season for some of the people I know, and it is hard to watch their journeys unfold, but that is all my little family can do. I like getting older for many reasons, but for the purposes of this post, it is because I have gained wisdom about what I can change and what I can’t. Everyone’s journey is their own, and while they intersect sometimes, that doesn’t mean that the journeys and burdens have to be shared. Where I once would have tried to dig in and help, and carry part of another’s self-inflicted burdens, I now don’t.

The human condition can be overwhelming. Or not. It really breaks down to this saying, which I have blogged about several times:

“He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has happiness.” 

Gratefulness for health, hope and happiness goes a long way in forming perspective and shedding burdens. 

What about those who don’t have health and are struggling with the self-imposed stress and drama they have created? They are still alive, still able to attain health, and hopefully they choose to do so and then move on to hope and happiness. 

But all I can do is watch when the journeys intersect and leave the burdens alone. I have to remember that.

 

Such a Night!

Today I was chatting with Colson’s 21 year old basketball coach, who is a phenomenal coach. Of course Christmas came up. I told him that we had a quiet one planned as our family is far away, and we have had a great Christmas season. For me the highlight is our attending Aaron Neville’s Christmas concert. He didn’t know who Aaron Neville is, which of course I had to remedy and send him some links.

Aaron Neville is my ALL TIME FAVORITE SINGER, but he may be tied with RAY CHARLES, I can’t decide.

I don’t have a bucket list, per se, but seeing Aaron Neville would be at the top, and he was so gorgeous at this concert – better than I could have dreamed.

And now, two hours and many Aaron Neville videos later (and Aaron Neville’s Soulful Christmas CD, the best Christmas CD ever made), I am totally jazzed and sharing some videos. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Emily Deans, the Evolutionary Psychiatrist, on BPA and Other Scary Stuff

Emily Deans’ blog has been a fantastic find, and this post on BPA is no exception: Time to Freak Out. Sensibly. If you don’t check in to Emily’s blog every now and then, it is a great read and worth the few minutes.

Unlike Emily and her kids, I am not as lenient with Colson’s (age 8) food choices when it comes to prepacked foods.  In recognition of Emily’s food decisions, she is stricter than almost all Americans, but even cleaner food requirements (some people would call these tougher or “freak out”) can work too. Colson doesn’t get juice boxes or Capri Sun, for example, no matter what.

We don’t freak out about bogus juice packs or birthday cakes, but Colson knows they are poison and willingly avoids them. In situations like this where these death treats are provided we will give him some dark chocolate or an Izzy, which is fizzy fruit juice in a single serving bottle. Not perfect, but we are willing to live with a once or twice a week Izzy event.

The kid will tell you that corn syrup, often contained in cakes, cookies, and other processed items, will inflame you and kill your heart, for example. Just the facts. People can add whatever emotion they want to them, but the facts are what they are. Perhaps some day Colson will ignore them, but if he does, he will know how to get back to “the good food” when he is ready.  

 

Breaking Free Internet Show – Check Us Out Tonight at 8:00

Last June I posted about the teens with whom I am working to address environmental threats: Teen Revolution 2011 - State of the Ocean Update. The group is now called Scaffold Earth, Mission Preservation (or SEM Preservation) and their tag line is “Teens Preserving the Earth to Preserve Ourselves." We are gearing up to take on the North Carolina legislature and its ridiculous 2012 proposed environmental destruction legislation, with meetings to begin in January. Monday night (tonight) at 8:00 we will be on Marilyn Shannon’s Internet show to talk about it. To listen in, follow this link: Breaking Free.

I think this comic represents what the teens are up against in the form of pushback by the ultra conservative political establishment, big business and the non-critical thinking and highly consuming segment of the American public, but the teens seem unfazed.  Here is the comic link if you want to read more: Minus #37 - KIWIS BY BEAT! I find it especially on the mark because our group is a heavily girl dominated group for whatever reason. 

Stir Fry is Back! – Soy Sauce Replacement

We gave up Stir Fry when starting the Whole 30. Just didn’t want the soy, even if it is properly fermented and organic. Bummer!

Until my friend Cynthia mentioned Coconut Secret Raw Coconut Aminos. I didn’t get some immediately and filed the idea away. The other day I was in Whole Foods, saw them and made the purchase. They are pricey for the amount you get, but stir fry is back! 

 

Someone Slipped Colson an Oreo Cookie Mickey and the Night from Hell!

Oh my! Oh my what a night! Poor Colson!! My Whole 30 plus occasional rice, clear nose breathing kid was slipped an Oreo Cookie Mickey at a Christmas party last night. What’s the big deal you might wonder if you are a skeptic of how my family heals? Colson’s screaming, convulsing with pain migraine headache. Ok, it was Colson who slipped himself the Mickey, but he didn't know what he was doing.

I need to step back a minute. Colson is very sensitive to wheat in the worst way, which we didn’t know until we did the GAPS diet a few years ago (for some history on Colson, wheat and corn see Corn Out, Darth Vader Breathing Gone and SO MANY LESSONS AGAIN! – and follow the links in that post back) Now that we are so food clean, wheat ravages him. And in last night’s case it was worse than ever thanks to the Oreo piece of shit chemical death cookie crushed into something and filled with some bogus cream filling and served.

Colson has never had the standard American bullshit packaged cookies, let alone ones that have been transformed into something else. The hosts and most of the attendees at the party eat very close to the way we eat and some are playing around with the Whole 30, so we dropped our guards. With one obvious exception (anything shaped like bread or a cracker), the food is always safe at these gatherings and Colson knows it.

One guest that we don’t know arrived late and I didn’t see what they brought - the crushed Oreo thing. Colson kept telling me it was too bad that I hadn’t had any because it tasted good and it was eaten quickly.

As we were heading home Colson said he had a headache. With the excitement of the party over, it began to get the upper hand. He went straight to bed when he got home and quickly fell asleep. Our friends phoned to say that they were worried that Colson might be suffering from a headache because one guest brought something with Oreo cookies. I told her that he did have a headache but that we weren’t worried because he was sleeping it off, and I thanked them for calling and for another fantastic party (they are really wonderful people and amazing hosts).

Three hours later Colson was up and screaming and shaking in pain and close to vomiting because his head hurt so much. I was so grateful for that heads up about the Oreo so that I knew how to put this headache I context. I immediately gave him ibuprofen but he needed a faster solution. I tried acupressure but couldn’t find a point that would cut the pain. Then Ryan came in so that I could look up the homeopathic remedies. As Colson was clutching me after he thought he would vomit, I quickly administered Bryonia. It was the first headache remedy I found and it quickly seemed to cut the pain down. A few minutes later the pain was back as bad as ever, so I moved on to Nux Vomica, as I had more time to research during the pain lull. Nux seemed to take care of it quickly and it matched the symptoms better than Bryonia. Of course the ibuprofen could have been kicking in by now too, as it had been about 20 minutes since his first dose. Still, I think the homeopathy played a role, because Colson was writhing in pain when I gave him the Nux and then within ten seconds he wasn’t. After a second dose he was better and he was asleep after the third dose. Colson basically went from writhing and crying to asleep in no more than five minutes after administering the Nux.

And if you are wondering what is in an Oreo Piece of Shit Death Cookie, here are the ingredients:

Ingredients: SUGAR, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), HIGH OLEIC CANOLA OIL AND/OR PALM OIL AND/OR CANOLA OIL, AND/OR SOYBEAN OIL, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORNSTARCH, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), SALT, SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER), VANILLIN - AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CHOCOLATE. CONTAINS: WHEAT, SOY.

Colson works hard to do the right thing with food. He purposefully avoided the breads at the party without complaint. But it didn’t occur to him to ask about this other “food.” I didn’t plan to mention the food mistake too him because he tried to do the right thing and I didn’t want to undermine the feeling of accomplishment he had around staying food clean. But it was such an episode last night that we will put it in context this morning. 

UPDATE: Colson was snoring before he woke up (rats!) and when he woke up this morning his head was fine. I explained what I think happened and he was shocked that he ate Oreos. He said it didn’t look like a cookie but kind of a date nutball and he didn’t think it was bad. We talked about how he should ask about any food that he wasn’t familiar with to make sure that it isn’t toxic. Lots of broth for him today to hopefully calm things down quickly. 

 

Loving This Christmas Season (and Rice Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies)!

What a difference a permanent job makes! It has been a couple of years since we have had that luxury and it really has put us at ease – we are so enjoying this Christmas season. No more being on edge, even in the back of our mind, waiting for the other shoe to drop. After an amazing Christmas party last week (see After the Big Party – I was wrong by the way. Ryan’s back never did start hurting), we spent a carefree week meeting new friends, helping someone (see So Much Generosity, Community and Gratitude!) making gobs of ornaments (I am addicted to making these: 32 Borax Crystal Ornaments Later - Tips), and we enjoyed Ryan’s second work Christmas party today, targeted at the whole family. The magician was awesome, the crafts were cute, and Colson even sat on Santa’s lap for the first time. It was a riot. We have always been up front that Santa Claus is a great story but it is his family and friends who so carefully and lovingly give him gifts. Colson really got a kick out of Santa and of course asked for a Wii.

Now we are home, I am making rice flour cookies (my first ones) and more ornaments, Colson is at his friend’s house watching a Christmas movie and Ryan is making Harry Potter wands on his lathe for Colson’s friends.

Why rice flour chocolate chip cookies??? Those aren’t on the Whole 30! Because we were at the Christmas party today and there were gobs of cookies there. We didn’t have one and no one complained…but Colson would like some cookies for Christmas, so I gave it a try. And they are good! Of course that is relative. I don’t think I have made a cookie using sugar in two years. Usually I use honey and a nut flour – and make it toxic by cooking it. I just need to face the fact that cookies are toxic, no matter what kind, and be ok with that occasionally. I used to be able to fool myself that honey was a better sweetener, but it all spikes insulin and produces inflammation, so honey or no honey, we are temporarily hosed when we eat cookies.

What does make these cookies less bad than the ones at the party? The rice flour. If you have been following along, you know that wheat jacks with Ryan’s cholesterol and makes Ryan’s and Colson’s faces swell. Thanks to the Whole 30,  we are so overstimulated by sweet things that I was able to cut the sweetener in half and my teeth are still vibrating (and my immune system has crashed for a few hours and my DNA are temporarily mutated). And now that I have had chocolate I will be up later this evening because chocolate messes with my sleep because it energizes me. Maybe I will watch that Dr. Palevsky video finally.

You know…why did I make these damn cookies? That’s right, my kid wants a cookie that is kind of like a “normal” cookie during the holidays. Talk about the new normal – a tasty yet grainy, half sweetened chocolate chip cookie makes him happy. That wouldn’t have happened last year.

If you are curious, go to this link for the recipe: Gluten Free and Casein Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe ...

Note that I replaced the xanthan gum with tapioca starch (and I think you could use arrowroot powder too), used butter instead of shortening, cut the sugar in half and used honey in half of that half, and used white rice flour in place of sweet rice flour.

Now back to those crystal ornaments. I just created another cool new design and am out of Borax so I will be off to the store shortly.

Happy Holidays!

Fern's Apple and Butternut Squash Sauce

My friend’s mom came up with this simple and delicious recipe.

• 1 Butternut squash

• 2 or 3 apples

Core the apples and remove the squash seeds. Coat the apples and squash with coconut oil. Bake them at 350 degrees until soft. 

Once cool, remove squash from skin, place squash and apples in a food processor and process until they are of an apple sauce consistency. Top with sunflower seeds or soaked and dehydrated nuts (I use pecans), and shredded coconut.

32 Borax Crystal Ornaments Later - Tips

Thirty-two and still going strong (see Borax Crystal Snowflakes). The next batch is starting this morning. Colson has made many shapes, Ryan has made interlocking ones and a Christmas tree, and I have made spirals of different sizes with pencils and dowels.

My Visions glass stock pot can hold 12 or more at a time, and that makes it easy to reheat the solution to use again. Reuse can be tricky, though, because you have to be sure to add enough Borax. My new standard is that there has to be some that doesn’t dissolve into the solution.

I am using quart jars to suspend and make the longer ornaments. My conundrum with these is that when reheating them they can crack, which I don’t understand because people use these to can food, right?

Finally, these ornaments are great fun to view under a microscope. Our math leader, Maria (see Natural Math), would be proud of the math we are finding.

 

Borax Crystal Snowflakes

This is so cool that I had to share. It is thanks Erin that I learned about them. Today Colson and I are diving in to make some.

Borax Crystal Snowflakes

 

Dr. Stephanie Seneff, D3 and Cholesterol Sulfate

My friend, Noelia, turned me on to Dr. Seneff (professor at MIT) when they both were at the 2011 Weston A. Price conference. At the same time, Dr. Mercola featured her in his emails: Stephanie Seneff on Sulfur. This is a great video interview, but lengthy, so I listened to a segment a day. There is lots of great information and lots of speculation, but compelling speculation that makes you think. So I went to Stephanie Seneff's Home Page to learn more and ultimately contacted her with my questions about her work. She was very generous and gracious in her answers. Our email exchange is below:

Even after the exchange, I am not comfortable giving up our emulsified D3 supplement, but she has me thinking and learning bigger than ever.

Here is our exchange: 

Dear Dr. Seneff, 

Unfortunately I was unable to attend this year's Weston A. Price conference, but I am so glad that you provided the interview with Dr. Mercola this Fall. 

I have a question in relation to your interview with Dr. Mercola, part of which is summarized below by him, with my question following. 

"This is where sun exposure enters the picture. When you expose your skin to sunshine, your skin synthesizes vitamin D3 sulfate. This form of vitamin D is water soluble, unlike oral vitamin D3 supplements, which is unsulfated. The water soluble form can travel freely in your blood stream, whereas the unsulfated form needs LDL (the so-called "bad" cholesterol) as a vehicle of transport. 

Her suspicion is that the simple oral non-sulfated form of vitamin D likely will not provide the same benefits as the vitamin D created in your skin from sun exposure, because it cannot be converted to vitamin D sulfate. This is yet another reason to really make a concerted effort to get ALL your vitamin D requirements from exposure to sunshine. 

"[S]ulfate actually inactivates vitamin D," Dr. Seneff says. "The sulfated form of vitamin D does not work for calcium transport, which I find very intriguing. And in fact, I think it's the sulfated form for vitamin D that offers the protection from cancer. It strengthens your immune system. It protects you from cardiovascular disease. It's good for your brain. It helps depression. I think all of those effects of vitamin D are effects of vitamin D sulfate."

QUESTION: Both my now eight year old son and I spend one to two hours a day in direct spring and summer sun in North Carolina with no sunscreen. We have done that for the last three years. We also took fermented cod live oil with butter oil daily. My D level in July was 22 and his D level in April was 23. My Oriental Medicine doc (a WAP board member) and another doc, great paleo radiologist I know, both said that some people just don't synthesize vitamin D well. My Oriental med doc put us on emulsified D and our levels quickly came up and both he and the radiologist are fine with that. For those of us who do not seem to synthesize D well (which I believe has something to do with kidney function based on a Harvard article I read) should we be concerned about supplemental D being less effective and can we do anything to help our kidneys do their jobs? Or do we have some sort of adaptation and low D levels aren't that much of a concern? For what it is worth, my cholesterol is great by WAP standards, per my blog: http://movingstronglyforward.typepad.com/moving_strongly_forward/2011/08/cholesterol-blood-sugar-and-thyroid-oh-my.html. I imagine my LDL is on the high end of health because of this lack of D synthesis. 

Any thoughts on what non-sun D producing people should do are greatly appreciated.

Thank you for all of your work and I look forward to continuing to learn from you. 

Sincerely, 

Laura Combs 

*********** 

I see from your blog post that you are eating what I consider to be a very healthy diet. And your numbers are great! (re cholesterol). It's very significant that you've avoided many of the health issues that your genes might predispose you to.  You are a good "case study" for advocating a high-fat diet!

My current opinion is that adequate sun exposure is essential not so much for the vitamin D but rather for the cholesterol sulfate that gets produced.  I have identified sulfur deficiency as a crucial component of the modern so-called "healthy low-fat" diet: particularly the sulfur that's derived from meat protein, contained in the essential amino acids, cysteine and methionine, as well as taurine, an amino-acid-like molecule. 

When sulfur is deficient, the skin can not handle the exposure to UV light nearly so well.  The sulfur molecules are able to take advantage of the ionizing radiation and put it to good use: the skin captures the oxygen from the air in the form of the sulfate molecule (SO4-2). Sulfate is absolutely essential to health -- it populates the extracellular matrix proteins of all the cells and keeps them healthy. It's especially important in the blood for keeping microbes at bay (and in the skin for keeping them out) which is why it appears that vitamin D builds a stronger immune system (I don't think this is correct --I think it's the sulfate that gets produced in the skin upon sunlight exposure that protects the immune system, and the vitamin D is just an indirect measure of sunlight exposure -- that is, unless you get your vitamin D predominantly from supplements).

So, in answer to your question, if I were you, I'd throw away the vitamin D supplements, but make sure to get as much sun exposure to the skin as I could, even though it does not appear to be boosting my vitamin D levels.  It's doing something much more important which is to make sulfate! (this is of course a radical theory I'm proposing that has not been proven by the research community, so take that into account when making your decision about what to do).  And, I am not a medical doctor. 

And I'd also advise you to be sure to get enough sulfur in your diet -- this involves eating eggs, seafood, and, in terms of vegetables, onions and garlic. 

Stephanie

***********

Wow! I am honored that you took so much time to reply and share information. You have really helped me understand and feel better about my and my son's lack of D production.

Is it ok if I share your email with my Oriental medicine doc? Here he is on the WAP page: http://www.westonaprice.org/about-the-foundation/board-of-directors. Is it ok if I share with my paleo MD friend? Both of them push the envelope and I am sure that they would be interested in what you share.

If not, no worries. 

Thank you, with great big smiles!

Laura 

***************

Yes, please do share with anybody you feel is appropriate. I am trying desperately to get the message out!

Stephanie 

*********** 

Thank you - I can share your message far and wide via our local WAP loop and the local and national Holistic Moms Network loops.

Three last questions. First, from your email below, can a person know if "the skin can not handle the exposure to UV light"or is blood analysis needed. Second, if analysis is needed, can you share the name of the test?

Third, is D3 important for bone density? I ask because my bone density was not good since my first test at age 30. If not, then I will probably chuck my emulsified D supplement.

Thank you again and I won't continuously pepper you with questions. I have been thinking and researching a lot lately, and I have an intellectual curiousity about this stuff. Both Ken and my radiologist friend have been super helpful guiding my learning, but you bring a new twist to things and now I am more curious, so thank you for the information. 

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Laura 

*********** 

Hi Laura:

I would imagine that people who are sensitive to sunlight would get things like a skin rash or perhaps hives upon sun exposure.  I'm not sensitive so I don't know first-hand what it would be like to experience that.  It would suggest to me that they are deficient in sulfur and/or cholesterol in the skin. 

I actually don't know what the test would be that would assess things like cholesterol sulfate deficiency.  I know that there are tests that are possible for sulfur metabolites, because I've seen papers discussing deficiencies in sulfur metabolites related to autism and chronic fatigue syndrome and Alzheimer's disease.  But I don't know what those tests would be or whether they're widely available. I think very few people are aware of the potential significance of cholesterol sulfate to health.  I had to figure it out through indirect means.

I think bone density issues are a direct consequence of cholesterol sulfate deficiency.  If you don't have enough cholesterol or enough sulfur, your body will leach the calcium out of your bones, and put it into bad places like plaque and calcified heart valves.  Cholesterol protects the cell membranes from potassium leaks, and with insufficient cholesterol, cells start to switch over from potassium to calcium, a bigger molecule that doesn't leak nearly so readily.  But it has to supply that calcium from the bones, so the bones become fragile.  The best way to protect the bones is to get plenty of sun exposure.  I am sixty three years old -- I had my bone density checked recently and the numbers looked great!  I've always tried to get lots of sun exposure all my life, and I think it has worked!

Stephanie

**********

Note that I had low cholesterol levels my whole life until the last four years, so perhaps that and the horrific “food” I ate had something to do with my bone density issues. I am conquering them, though. See And the Bone Density Drum Roll Please…. 

 

After the Big Party

What a party it was (see The Big Party)! There weren’t 850 people there, it was over 1,000! It was stunning. The CEO and the President personally greeted hundreds of us and their greetings were so welcoming. We chatted with them at the end and they were just as engaging and welcoming four hours later. It was an unbelievably generous party, we met some really neat people, danced A LOT, and the food. 

The food. Amazing. I had a Dijon salmon, bacon wrapped scallops, baba ghannouj mixed with tabouli (from my professional Lebanese opinion it didn’t have enough parsley or lemon), coconut crusted chicken, incredible cheese and veggies. And the dessert – so unreal. I didn’t eat too many, but I sampled and they were glorious tastes.

Because of the Whole 30, which converts your body in a way that your body won’t let you overeat, I didn’t and today I feel fine.

Ryan ate a white meal – crackers, bread, cheese, salmon and chicken and dessert. He popped his Gluten Flam upon starting and didn’t overeat either.

Now here’s Ryan:

“I feel fine, except for my face.” He won’t let me take a picture, but boy is it swollen! He didn’t get a wheat hangover in the headache sense thanks to the Gluten Flam, but he looks like hell! He says he looks like he took steroids. I asked him if it was worth it and he says he doesn’t know. If the swelling goes down in an hour then maybe. If it takes longer then it wasn’t.

And it isn’t just his eyes and face that are puffy (which is what usually happened pre-Whole 30 when he ate a little wheat). This time his neck is swollen too. I am betting the swelling lasts longer than an hour. It has been 12 hours since we ate, for gosh sakes.

Ryan ate less wheat than most people, but when your body screams at you in that Harry Potter, face swelling to hide your identity curse that Herminone used to hide Harry, then really – wheat may be worth it?

Here is my prediction. In addition to the swollen face, Ryan's formerally twice fractured back (which happened when he was in the Army 17 years ago) will begin to hurt. On the Whole 30 it doesn't, but I bet he will begin to be sore later today. I am lucky I have a husband who takes my ribbing so well. 

The Big Party

Just a quick note before we are off. We are just about ready to go to Ryan’s Christmas party, which is thrown by his new employer. The company is planning for 850 employees to attend. It has been a long time since we dressed up, and we look pretty darn good thanks to the Whole 30. In fact, my dress fits better than ever and Ryan’s clothes are a bit loose.

The party is supposed to have some pretty amazing eats. Ryan is ready – three Gluten Flamm pills are sitting in his wedding ring, waiting to be placed in his pocket and then ingested prior to digging in to the food. If you recall, wheat totally jacks up Ryan, which we figured out back in September. We will see what his blog post brings tomorrow!

Me? Who knows. We will see what might lure me to stray.

 

So Much Generosity, Community and Gratitude!

This post is dedicated to my friends, who have so generously helped me and inspired me.

What a week it has been! I have been able to connect with amazing and inspiring people and have been able to participate in giving and receiving. This stuff is catchy!

It all started this way, with a woman I hardly know and the generosity of women I do know. I sent this message out to my local Holistic Moms Network chapter and a couple of friends not in the chapter: 

Hi all. I have a really neat story and request for help.

I met Valerie, an employee at Barnes and Noble who suffers from hyperthyroid and it has been really hard on her. I see her every few months and sometimes she is really struggling with it. She started chatting with me at that first visit because I was returning a book that my brother bought for me. She thought it was a "good book" until I explained to her why it wasn't. She asked a lot of questions, discussed her hyperthyroidism and how western medicine hasn’t helped, and eventually I recommended that she go see my Oriental medicine doc.

Then I spoke to my doc and he said that Hyperthyroid was almost always easy to treat and he would like to help her. So back I went to Valerie to relay what he told me. Problem is that she doesn't have the financial resources to cover the cost of the first appointment or a car to get there.

Fast forward about 7 months to today when Colson and I were at the library. We are checking out and I hear a woman ask for Nourishing Traditions, which of course perks my ears up. Eventually I realize it is Valerie and she is finally ready to get busy with the food but she still can't get to my doc's due to financial constraints and because she has no car. I offered to drive her, which thrilled her, and she says she will be in touch. I know that the money is still a problem for her.

All that to say that I am going to purchase part of her visit, but I can't do so until 2012 due to financial constraints.

If you would like to join me in helping Valerie get to my doc's, change her life so that she can finally actually feel good, and do so at very little cost, please do! $5 or less will get her on her way because it will get her there sooner. If we can make this a community effort, it will not be a financial inconvenience to any of us who are able to contribute and it will drastically change a very nice person's life.

If you can help and are interested in helping, please email me off-line. 

Thank you so much for reading this message!

Laura

Those women sure stepped up. We have raised the money for Valerie’s first appointment and part of her lab costs. I will go to Barnes and Noble this weekend with this surprise, which I hope isn’t too overwhelming for her, and she will be at my Oriental medicine doc’s office before Christmas!

This effort quickly got me to thinking that here we are helping a stranger when some of our Holistic Moms members may need help too. So, I put out this message: 

Thank you to those who have contributed to helping Valerie, about whom I posted yesterday. We are making progress! I don't even really know her, just see her every few months, struggling sometimes and not others. She is really trying to heal but doesn't have the resources, and with your help we will get her what she needs. Because you are contributing, the specialness of the effort is magnified and I think it helps alleviate any sense of obligation she may feel because there is not just one person for her to focus her appreciation on. 

Now on to us. I know that my family has been severely stretched economically to the point where donating even to a cause like Valerie's, requiring very little money, has been a serious hardship. I wonder how many in our chapter find themselves in this situation and we aren't helping them?

With this in mind, I am pondering setting up some sort of alternative health care (or allopathic care when needed) fund to help our sister members who truly can't get what they need no matter how hard they try. I am not talking about helping with items that a person may need to delay purchasing until they catch up a little - like the Vitamin D supplement that my family has not been able to purchase for two weeks but we can purchase today (yay!).

I am talking about members who can't get a treatment or supplement they need regardless of how much time passes because they can't allocate funds to these areas regardless of how much time passes.
If we have members in this type of financially difficult situation, please email me off line and let me know that this type of effort would help you.
If there is a need, maybe those interested in helping could contribute $5 a month (maybe a little more depending on how many participate and how strong the need is). If we end up with $300 (or another amount if anyone has another recommendation) and no one needing anything, then we just stop contributing until the money is put to use.

Thoughts?

Thanks everyone!

Laura

Did the Holistic Moms and Dads have thoughts? Heck yeh, they did! Pledges have come in, needs have been identified, ideas have been floated and a committee of three is being formed to manage and disburse the money, and we will be running with this before Christmas. I will have guidelines drafted by the end of this weekend.

In addition to all of that and based on the chatter of two members, a database of talents/knowledge is being developed so that we know what non-monetary resources we can offer. 

Regarding our members, I have been part of this chapter since its founding 5 ½ years ago. In some ways its sense of community has waned over time, with many of the old timers still close and the new folks kind of quiet. They are starting to show themselves now, offering to help out. Hopefully I will meet some of them at our December meeting. It feels like our community is strengthening and gaining new purpose.

Now for one more gift. My friend Noelia, who regularly practices generosity and who helped me get to the Weston Price conference last year (I have blogged about it extensively), gave me a great surprise last night, which happened prior to the above efforts and again highlights the importance of community.

Noelia coordinates an organic, North Carolina local pecan order every year. This year I volunteered to pick up the pecans (a couple hours round trip) but my car broke down. Economically, the timing was most unfortunate due to a short layoff (with no more foreseeable layoffs even in the distant future – Yay!) and some other financial constraints. Not only could I not pick up the pecans, I had to withdraw my order. My family seriously has very little attachment to much of anything thanks to all of these layoffs. We are just grateful to eat good food and have a place to live. 

Now for the really fun part! 

Noelia told the Holistic Moms who placed orders what happened, and last night she told me that as a surprise the farmer and some of the members have gifted us pecans…so now we are awash in pecans! Talk about an unexpected and generous surprise!

I am in awe of my community (Holistic Mom friends and others). They have helped my family during the four (yes four!) layoffs over four years, without asking us what we need. They have taught me so much and I am doing my best to keep paying it forward. My gratitude is overflowing and it feels great.