Locks of Love

I finally did it. Cut my hair! It has been long my whole life and recently got so long that I really needed to cut it. I figured what's the difference if I cut 6 inches or 10? I also thought donating it to make a wig for kids with cancer would be worth it. Not sure who I will donate it to, locks of love is a US company and I would like to keep it in Ontario.

Here are some before and after shots....

before

after
the specimen....

Well now it is time to start growing it back!

Another Case For Vitamin D

I read another article abstract looking at 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels measured from 1024 children with mild to moderate asthma. They looked at baseline vitamin D levels and the odds of any hospitalization or ER visits over the 4 years the trial was examined. 35% of subjects were vitamin D deficient. After analyzing all the data they concluded that vitamin D insufficiency is common in this population of children with mild-to-moderate persistent asthma and is associated with higher risk of severe exacerbation over a 4 year period. (Journal Allergy Clinical Immunology July; 126 (1): 52-8 e5). Once again the importance of vitamin D can not be over-stated.

Sadly, I also just read how Ontario is no longer paying for vitamin D testing (unless indicated ie. osteoporosis) as the #'s of test requests drastically increased. Vitamin D should be tested and the mere 50$ to run the test could save the government lots of money down the road as deficient D levels can cause much worse things that would cost much more when we need to treat cancer, depression or constant illnesses from a low immune system (we can lump asthma into this group). Another well made decision by the goverment and another good reason to see an ND!

Importance of Sleep

I read this interesting abstract for a research article and thought I would share it....

It looked at 1930 (ages 0-13) children and then divided the group onto 0-4 and 5-13. It concluded that a shorter duration of nightime sleep was strongly associated with an increased risk of being overweight or obese in the 0-4 age group and had no significant difference for baseline in the older age group. Therefore shortened sleep duration in early life is a modifiable risk factor (meaning you have the power to change it!) with important implications for obesity prevention and treatment. If children in the 0-4 age group have insufficient nightime sleep, this could have lasting effect for obestiy. (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010 Sep; 164 (9):840-5)

I thought this was so fascinating and yet just another reason to ensure your kids get a good night's sleep.

Chocolate Goodness....

In a blink of an eye he turned 5.

Now....onto the details of the cake. I am making a white cake with cholcolate icing with the Batman logo. I can not get myself to buy the pre-made icing. I will throw in the towel for a few things on birthdays (we will have gummi bears and I will need to use a little bit of yellow food die for the batman logo--) as for the icing it can be easily made. I looked at a few recipes and then made up my own. It turned out delicious!! Thought I should post about it so the next time I need the recipe I will know where to find it!!

1/2 cup melted butter
1 square of semi-sweet chocolate

While these were melting, I sifted together
1 lb of icing sugar and
1/3 cup of cocoa

I then added 1 tsp of vanilla and 1/3 cup of milk to the melted butter and chocolate.

and lastly slowly added the icing sugar mixture until you get the consistency you desire for icing.

Delicious!

Ginger Snaps

Aidan has been sick on and off this week. Yesterday, he had a terrible fever and was lethargic but with lots of fluids, herbs and homeopathics we made it through another illness! Today we baked some ginger cookies. Ginger can be warming on a cold day and promotes healthy sweating which is helpful during cold and flu season. It is also really good for nausea (and is safe in pregnancy), supports digestion and is an anti-inflammatory (great for joint pain).

This recipe is form the cookbook How it all Vegan (which I love and adore!).
http://www.govegan.net/?page_id=7056
(I cut the recipe in half and made about 2 dozen cookies)

2 1/2 cups flour (I mixed buckwheat and spelt)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup oil
5 tbsp of freshly grated ginger or 2 tsp powdered

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl (dry then add wet). Bake for 350F for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!