The Back to School Grind

It is hard to believe the summer is coming to an end and the back to school feeling is in the air. Here are a few tips to help get your kids and yourselves ready for the back to school hustle.

      1. A bedtime routine. The summer is great for that laissez faire attitude, but now that we need to get to school on time, those carefree summer days are going to have to come to an end. Children between the ages of 5-12, need 10-12 hours of sleep per night. Lack of sleep is connected to poor attention and memory, lower grades and mood disturbances.  Start by turning technology off at least an hour before bed.  Try to keep the lights dim and mood calm. Set a bedtime routine with bath/shower, reading, snuggles, and lights out.

2. Bring back the healthy diet and take out the summer treats. We’ve all had our fair share of summer ice creams but now that school is back we want to decrease the sugar load, which is excitable to our nervous systems. Also, being back to school means being surrounded by large populations of germs and in order to maintain healthy immune systems we need to keep the sugar out.

3. Increase fruits and vegetables.  We want our children (and ourselves) to “eat the rainbow” daily. With such bounty this summer of fresh and local produce it should come easily. Fresh produce is rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. These food choices keep us energetic and healthy, which are two essential ingredients for successful learning.

4. Get kids moving and active outside everyday! The downfall of school, is the need to sit at desks for large periods of time. The recommended guideline is for our children to have 1 hour of outdoor activity daily and sadly only 7% of children are reaching this. Try to make this a priority.

5. It might be the time to bring the supplements back. If you feel your child needs an extra boost consult with someone about an appropriate multi-vitamin, fish oil or greens drink to help power your child through those first few weeks of school.

I hope everyone enjoys these last few carefree days with their children. I know firsthand how hard it is to be at home with children during the summer months.  I try to remind myself that “the days are long and the years are short”. So on that note, enjoy your sweet ones while they still want to spend all their time in the world with you. Good luck with the back to school craze!

acupuncture, moxibustion and breech babies

i've had several pregnant women connecting with me this past month to help them turn the breech presentation of their babies. i'm happy to report, success with all!  love my job.

i set them up with a few acupuncture sessions and teach them how to use moxibustion so they can do this daily at home. i use the "indirect" method where i place a moxa stick near the acupuncture point UB67 for a minimum of 20 minutes daily. The stick applies heat, and i leave it alternating sides every 5 minutes.

we also talk about positive visualization, which body positions are supportive to help baby turn, we use homeopathics and i even recommend diving in a pool (a tip from a good friend who's a midwife).

here's a study on moxibustion and breech babies. it's worth a try :)

simple simple salads.

this is a kale salad with a tahini dressing. you want to clean and pull all the kale off the stalks. the stalks are bitter. i then chopped the kale into small pieces. i added some diced cucumbers and peppers. (you can add whatever you like!)

the dressing is a about 2 heaping tbsps of tahini, 1/2 freshly squeezed lemon, few cloves of galic, and a handful of cilantro (you could omit this, but i simply love it so had to add it). i then hand blend the dressing but it's thick so i slowly add water to the consistency i like.
toss the salad in the dressing and done.
it's great for several days after it's made and almost gets better a few days later as the kale softens.

i made this quinoa salad with all the veggies i picked up at the dufferin grove farmers market.
i cooked 1 cup of quinoa
added chopped rainbow chard, dill cucumbers, and fresh basil
i was a bit lazy to make a dressing, so i used the sunflower kitchen pesto. it's delicious, dairy free and vegan.
once again, super simple and really healthy.
enjoy!

dying. need drugs. and it's ok.

people always blog about the joyous occassions in their lives. never the crap. do the "soulemamas" out there ever have a crappy day and talk about it? and somehow even when they do, it's still cute and picturesque.

well, this blog is about me being sick and needing drugs, and it sucks....
yesterday morning i woke up and was tired and achy. i rested and took it easy and began my slew of remedies. as the day progressed, i started feeling worse and worse. i kept up with my naturopathic prescriptions like a religion. i've got this.
at 10 pm, my throat felt like fire, swallowing was difficult, and those lovely white "pus" spots were all over. i still thought i could beat this and continued with my medicines.

fastforward to 1 am. i am now dying. tonsils so large, red, inflamed with white spots all over. can't swallow. taking the tinctures was like swallowing fire. so feverish with chills and sweats. i'm in tears.

i needed drugs. i (obviously) am not one to take antibiotics, but am also thankful to have them when they are needed. the problem i have is with the over-prescribing, and writing scripts without proper testing. ie. a swab in this case.

so here i am. 10 days with amoxicillin. my new best friend. i love you.

i am going to take my probiotics with them, but only a low dose. the antibiotics will kill the good bacteria along with the bad, so not much point right now.
when i'm done the 10 day course, i will do a week of HMF Replete and then a month of HMF Intensive. I will also drink the GH Greens + Whole Body Nutrition daily for the 70% fermented foods, to help re-establish a healthy flora.
so that's it. hope these bad boys kick in soon and i can enter the land of the living. my kids need me.
Rxo

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

i love chocolate and peanut butter. together, it's like perfection. when i was younger we didn't really get reese's peanut butter cups, so i used to take the kraft PB and mix it with the nutella and make my own.
it was good.
well, the other day i made these. they were amazing and of course a much healthier option than my childhood ingredients.
i got the idea from pureella's blog.  chocolate, coconut oil and peanut butter. that's it. 3 ingredients.
I made half the batch, so used 100gm of organic dark chocolate. I melted it with the 2 tbsp of coconut oil and then layered into the little cups i had. i did not measure the PB and just put in little spoonfuls. i also didn't add more coconut oil on top of the peanut butter.
that's it. delicious and super simple.

 as you can see no complaints with this customer...

a sick kai kai.

It's amazing. One minute your kid is happy and avoiding bedtime, the next they wake up in the middle of the night hot and miserable. That was me last night with Kai. This morning, so tired and with basically one eye open, I checked him out.
Ears; clear. Lungs; clear. Mouth. Yup. Swollen glands.
I did a rapid strep; negative. (will send one out to the lab tomorrow morning for a more accurate test).

Most likely it's viral. I gave my usual combo of basic supplements and homeopathics (aconite was my first for its acute onset with fever). I also did the much beloved (insert sarcasm here) cold wet sock treatment. I will blog about it this week.
I use this wonderful product made by John Redden, a local herbalist in the junction, that is wise beyond belief. His company is called Viriditas and he makes a Children's and Adult's Cold and Flu product that tastes great and is wonderful when the little ones are sick.

A few herbs to highlight. 
Eupatorium perfoliatum, also known as boneset. It is immune boosting, a febrifuge (reduces fevers) and a diaphoretic (brings forth sweat) and soothes aching bones.
Usnea is a potent antibiotic (as well as anti-viral and anti-fungal). Think of this herb as the anti-"anything".
Glycyrrhiza Glabra (licorice root), has so many wonderful properties, but to highlight in this case; immune stimulating abilities to fight viruses and anti-inflammatory properties to soothe the inside of the mouth and respiratory system are amazing.
The slew of berries, are nutrient dense and thus are nutritive to the body in a time when it needs it most, and well echinacea, we are all familiar with that one.

If you are interested in trying this product out or having it on hand at home, just get in touch with me.

So.... that's what I've done so far. We'll see how that day goes. I do love my sleep and hope tonight is smooth sailing.....

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Beet Muffins! Say What?

House was quiet, with all the little people sleeping, so I decided to make some muffins. 

I had a base of a recipe but as per usual altered it. 

They turned out delicious!

Healthy. Vegan. Kid-Approved (fingers crossed!)

1 1/4 cup spelt flour (use a gluten free blend if you wish)

1/4 cup cacao (the real deal, like this or this)

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the above in a bowl

In a separate bowl mix together

1 banana, mashed

1/4 cup sweetener (I used maple syrup, brown sugar will do)

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup milk (I used almond)

Once these are mixed add in 1/2 cup grated zucchini and 1/2 cup grated beet (I did not have a enough zucchini for a full cup so improvised with the beet. It worked)

Mix the dry into wet.

I then added a handful of dairy free chocolate chips. 

Place into muffin tray.

 Bake at 375F for 20 min. 

Done.