The Quick and Easy Way I Helped My Kid Cut Dairy

Here is the story of why and how I removed dairy products from my now 7-year-old son’s diet, and one great suggestion on how to make healthy substitutions work in your life and in the lives of your favorite peeps.

My son’s name is Riley, but this story starts with me … no shock there!

In 2007, I removed all dairy products from my personal food intake. Prior to this action, I drank a little milk here and there, and I loved cheese. Abstaining from dairy food was part of my clean eating journey following my cancer diagnosis – not that someone told me to remove it, but as I gravitated towards vegetarianism and then veganism, it naturally went by the wayside.

To my surprise, my chronic sinus and allergy issues also went by the wayside. At first, I wasn’t sure why this phenomenon occurred. Before this, I was on over-the-counter medications and prescription medications daily, and suffered excruciating headaches several days a week. Every week. And it was worse in allergy season. I had also noticed over his short life, that my then 4-year-old son had seasonal allergy issues that mirrored mine. Great.

So, no dairy for me. Time moves on and I start realizing: Hey, no more headaches (I was a bit preoccupied with life and other health issues, so it was not an immediate ah-ha moment). No more sinus issues. Wow. In 2009, I started thinking, hmmm, Riley continues to have seasonal issues with allergies and sinuses, and what he still calls, “head-ecks.” So after much thought on the issue, I declared no more milk for Riley.

Big step.

Like a good mommy, I knew there needed to be a substitute for Riley, so I started making almond milk. In Riley’s mind, not a good thing. In fact, he cried, he whined, he hated it. He would eventually drink it due to the threats of no cartoons. Honestly, he didn’t mind it so much, but he would cry to me with the most scrunched up and whining face saying, “but this isn’t milk, Mommy.”

He was right. It wasn’t milk.

In his short life, he had known breast milk and he had known cow’s milk. Almond milk was by no comparison milk. Now, I make beautifully aromatic and sweet almond milk. But it was in no way milk in his world. How could I be so shortsighted?

Time for a strategy change. Quick mommy, think fast on your feet! And you know what, I did just that.

So I sat down and got eye level with my son, and said, “You know what, Riley, you are absolutely right. This isn’t milk, and I am so sorry for calling it that. Milk comes from mammals, and this sweet drink is made from almonds, so how in the world could it be milk?” He looked at me with big eyes almost doubting my blunt honesty.

I continued, “What would you like to call this drink? It is so white, kind of like snow, don’t you think? And it is not like milk at all, it is more like water, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“What do you think we should call it then? Snow milk, snow water? How about snowflake water?” I asked with enthusiasm. His eyes lit up, and he smiled. “Yes, I like that, Mommy. It is kinda like water.”

And so it was.

It was amazing that just renaming the drink and not trying to pass it off as an exact substitute totally changed my son’s acceptance of the new drink. It was no longer a negative thing. He was also very pleased to be part of the renaming. It was as if it gave him some ownership.

Consider giving this exercise a try with yourself and with your loved ones who are rejecting some of your lifestyle changes. Don’t try to pass everything off as a one-for-one substitute. Make up new, fun names for foods, drinks or even routines so it is not viewed as a negative in anyone’s mind. Be honest, but simply change the focus!

Christmas Eve came shortly after our renaming powwow and Riley proudly put out some sweet snowflake water for Santa along with some other vegan (raw) goodies. The snowflake water was all gone the next morning – yum! Santa and his reindeer will be happy to know that they will be getting more of that tasty goodness this year too.

Ho-ho-ho!

Tina Pruitt is a healthy living expert and speaker, an International Raw and Living Foods Coach, and a two-time breast cancer survivor. She is living and sharing her passion through her soon-to-launch online healthy living coaching business.

Photo Credit: idovermani

President Clinton’s Momentous Intervention in the Health Debate

These are momentous times for sharing with the public the exceptional benefits of a whole foods, plant-based diet. By now, many people have seen President Clinton’s comments on CNN and elsewhere about the dramatic turnaround in his personal health when he adopted this dietary lifestyle. Some of us have been doing research, clinical practice and writing about this dietary lifestyle for many years, sometimes having to overcome considerable skepticism (my own experience in experimental research and public policy making on food and health goes back a half-century). We all are indebted to President Clinton for his candor, indeed courage, in sharing his personal experience with the public.

Those of us in the professions have seen many times what this dietary lifestyle does – and I confess that sometimes we have been discouraged in not being able to penetrate the public mindset. But in the last two to three years the idea is definitely growing, mostly because people simply try it and see dramatic benefits for themselves. For myself, I have presented more than 300 lectures since the 2005 publication of our book, “The China Study” (co-authored with Thomas Campbell, MD), and the majority of my more recent lectures have been at medical venues and conferences. I personally have seen a very welcome adoption of this idea by an increasing number of medical practitioners, many wondering why they had not received nutrition training in medical school.

President Clinton has turned on a flashlight that will cast a very long ray of light.

One of the truly remarkable benefits of this dietary lifestyle is its ability not only to prevent future disease events, but even to treat already diagnosed diseases, an incredible opportunity to avoid expensive medical interventions, drugs and most dietary supplements. Reliable evidence exists to support this view both from the laboratory and from the clinic.

Even though the biology is complex, the message is simple. Choose a whole foods plant based diet – vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereal grains of your preference, but include lots of antioxidant-rich colored vegetables. Minimize added oil (no frying in oil), sugar and fat – none is best. Animal based foods (including dairy) and processed foods are a no-no. Use some of your favorite herbs and spices to befriend your palate and you’re on your way. Find great recipes on the Internet and in many cookbooks. After a month or two, you will eliminate your addiction for fat and, presto! – a whole new world of tastes!

The benefits of this dietary lifestyle are unusually broad, going beyond the prevention of most diseases like cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, obesity, certain autoimmune diseases and nuisance diseases (colds, flu, acne, headaches, etc.). This dietary strategy has a remarkable ability to act fast to reverse already diagnosed diseases. This is food as medicine, at its best.

President Clinton specifically named our book, “The China Study,” and I applaud his forthright mention of his not using dairy. I came from a dairy farm and started my career strongly believing in the nutritional value of this food, especially for its protein content. But, in our experiments, we documented multiple times a remarkable ability of the main protein of cow’s milk, casein, to promote cancer growth and to do so by a plethora of mechanisms. For many years, animal-based protein, like casein, has been known to increase blood cholesterol and encourage early stages of heart disease.

This is a very old story, with some of its most relevant parts beginning with the ancient Greek philosophers and medical caretakers. Important elements of this story also have been published in the scientific literature for at least the past century then, too often, left unnoticed.

But there is much yet to do, not the least of which is figuring out how best to inform the public in a way that offers a convenient, efficacious and affordable way to sustain behavior change, if they wish. This is one instance where government could help, simply informing its citizens of important information that comes into their possession, while letting them decide whether to take advantage of it. I get an equally enthusiastic response for this message from either side of the political spectrum. The last time I checked, I recall almost everyone wanting personal health. Could this be a bridge to span the political divide?

On March 11, 2011, a professionally produced documentary film, “Forks Over Knives,” will be released in theaters and offers further insight into this story. These are exciting times because this message offers an opportunity for all to benefit, regardless of political persuasions. It’s a great bridge to help resolve these contentious times.

Originally posted at HuffingtonPost.com.

Voting with Our Food Choices

In September, the House Energy and Commerce Committee conducted a hearing on this summer’s massive egg recall, and witnesses included the owners of the factory farms that spawned the salmonella crisis and a couple of the downstream victims – consumers who ate foods containing eggs contaminated with salmonella and nearly died. The testimony of some of the victims was chilling, and it even prompted one congressman, Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, to declare he’s now switching to cage-free eggs.

He’s got the right instinct. The central problem is not that there were a couple of reckless factory farm operators, though it’s certainly true that Jack DeCoster, owner of one of the two farms linked to the salmonella outbreak, has had a history of cutting corners at his egg farms across the country. It’s really a systemic problem – with the industry as a whole adopting battery cage confinement systems that victimize every creature confined in these cages and create an overcrowded, unhealthy environment that is high-risk for the spread of pathogens like salmonella.

We don’t just need to wash eggs better, or only make sure rodents haven’t colonized these places or that dead birds are removed from cages. We need to get rid of the cages and give animals more space. By giving them more space, we are better to the animals and reduce excessively high stocking densities that are among the root causes of the food safety problems, too.

And the evidence linking cages to unsanitary and inhumane conditions is hardly new. In fact, The HSUS’s investigation of Iowa egg factories earlier this year found nearly identical conditions to those found during the FDA’s inspection of the companies responsible for the current recall.

Our diet matters. We vote for or against cruelty, and for or against food safety, with our own food choices every day. That’s why I was also struck by the comments of former President Bill Clinton, who has adopted a nearly vegan diet. He told Wolf Blitzer of CNN that he’s now eating a plant-based diet, that he’s lost 24 pounds since he started it, and that’s he’s studied the issue very carefully, reading the works of Drs. Dean Ornish, Colin Campbell, and others. He’s said he feels like he’s now part of the experiment to prove that eating a plant-based diet is a way to improve the functioning of arteries and to deal with problems of cholesterol and fat.

When we are conscious eaters, we can help animals, protect the environment, enhance food safety, and protect our own health. We have an opportunity to live a healthy life and create the society we want through our actions, and one of the best opportunities is with our food choices every day.

Originally posted on A Humane Nation, Wayne Pacelle’s blog.

Photo Credit: Gabe Photos

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3 Causes of Illness (and 10 Tips to Overcome Them)

Some people who eat a very clean diet think that a “perfect” diet = perfect health.

It would be easy to believe that if you just maintain an extra clean diet most of the time, all bodily ills can be avoided. Unfortunately this is just not the case. While what you do and don’t eat plays a huge role in how good you feel, it is not the only factor in staying symptom- and disease-free. Aside from a poor diet, here are three things that can be a recipe for illness:

1. Stress
2. Emotional pain
3. Not supporting the body to remove waste and toxicity

All three are often overlooked, but today we are going to discuss the first two. Mental and emotional stresses are hugely influential in how healthy and happy you feel, and yet so often management of these very vital aspects of health can fall to the wayside. We can forget that truly wonderful health is experienced when all of these components of our well-being, along with diet, are given attention.

In small amounts, stress can be useful. It can give you the buzz, motivation and focus to get things done. But more often than not, stress just gets ugly. When the stress that gives you the kick in the bum to keep moving changes to tension throughout your body, irritability, or reduced physical, mental, or emotional health, then you know it has gone too far. Stress is extremely acidic in the body. Our bodies need to maintain an alkaline state to remain or become healthy.

Emotional stress will have the same impact, as will working far too long and exhausting yourself, and not having a balance of rest, movement, play and work.

So other than maintaining a very clean, alkaline diet that will help to minimize acidity in your body, what can you do? Here are a few suggestions.

1. Create a balance of work and playtime every day by setting boundaries of what time you will work and (just as important) not work. Allow time to exercise, meditate, juice, cook, connect with loved ones, get fresh air, have sex, buy fresh produce and whatever else is important to you.

2. Make the time you do work as efficient and productive as possible. Don’t procrastinate or multi-task. Focus on one task at a time and do it with your whole focus. You will get a better result.

3. Pick the most challenging, important or profitable task to do first in your workday. Once this is achieved, the other tasks can be more easily managed and with less stress. You will find it much easier to switch off the stress beast with your biggest tasks behind you.

4. Breathe deeply. Even if it’s just taking 10 deep breaths where you breathe in through the nose for four counts and then out through your mouth for four counts, it will help to calm your mind, bring you back into your body and center youself. You can take it further by noticing where you are holding tension in your body as you do your deep breathing and actively releasing it.

5. Meditate regularly. Even if it’s just by paying attention to your breath with the breathing exercise above, meditation can completely transform mental and emotional stress. Guided meditations are particularly helpful if you find it hard to turn off mind chatter. Having a voice guide you into a state of meditation can be easier than trying to get yourself there.

6. Get enough sleep. How can you expect yourself to feel calm, centered, balanced and happy when you are running on only a few hours of sleep? You know what I’m talking about. ‘Nuff said.

7. Release to your journal. If you are feeling emotional, releasing your thoughts and feelings to a page can shift emotional energy out of you. It can also help to clarify your thoughts and feelings by having to become consciously aware of them to express them on paper. Your journal is a safe place to release; it won’t judge, talk back or criticize you.

8. Get out, connect with friends and loved ones, and laugh! Forcing yourself to get outside, particularly into nature, can completely shift you out of your own pain and back into the world. Seeing people walking around, animals, beautiful scenery and a world outside of your own can remind you that there is more than what’s in your head, and there is a lot to be grateful for. The same thing applies to seeing friends or loved ones. It reminds you that there is more out there than your own stress. There are other people to connect and laugh with.

I know I said we are talking strategies to cope with stress and emotional pain that aren’t food and movement related, but well, they are so important that I’m putting them here anyway!

9. Eat whole foods. If you are eating a diet full of processed foods, sugar, stimulants (coffee, cigarettes, chocolate and caffeinated tea), then you are going to be causing your body serious amounts of stress, imbalance and moodiness.

10. Move your body! Of course, moving your body is also an amazing stress reliever and extremely alkalizing. Exercise is stimulating in a natural and nourishing way, unlike processed foods and chocolate, which are acidic and falsely stimulating.

Casey Thomas, Raw Lifestyle Coach and Detox Counselor, publishes “Bloom Time,” a free monthly eZine for health and energy seekers and raw food lovers around the globe.

The Secret to Making Your Detox Effective

What is detoxification?

Detoxification is what your body does naturally to neutralize, transform or get rid of unwanted materials or toxins. Although it is mostly ignored by our current medical system, the detoxification system is a key component of our body’s functioning, constantly working and interacting with all the other functions of the body. So a good detox program improves and optimizes the function of your body’s own built-in detoxification systems. This is done by decreasing the amount of toxins we put into our bodies while, at the same time, supporting our detoxification and elimination systems with the nutrients they need to function properly.

Why is it necessary?

Internally our bodies harbor toxins produced by the billions of bacteria and other flora in the intestines as well as the waste products produced by normal metabolic processes. Externally, our exposure to chemicals in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the personal care products we put on our skin and the household products we use is greater than ever. Our bodies are constantly neutralizing and eliminating all these toxins, that is, detoxing. It is a totally natural process. And while we are obviously equipped to deal with low levels of some toxins, our bodies become overtaxed by the overwhelming number of toxins to which we are exposed.

When our own detoxification systems (predominantly the liver and the gut) become overloaded and do not function properly, toxins get stored in various tissues in the body, including fatty tissue. This prevents our system from functioning at optimum strength and efficiency and is a factor in the development of various chronic diseases including cancer.

Just like with our cars, our own internal engines are subject to waste build-up and can become sluggish over time. They both need an occasional tune-up and run better when clean.

Detoxing helps our bodies cope with this onslaught of toxins that are an unavoidable part of modern day life. Boosting the detoxification system helps bring the body back into balance. It’s an important first step in restoring function and getting the body back to optimal health.

Why is toxicity not recognized by most doctors?

Our conventional medical system does not recognize toxicity nor know how to treat or prevent it. This stands in stark contrast to Eastern medical systems where the notion of detoxing has been in place for thousands of years. The detoxification system involves complex interactions between organs that depend on each other to function effectively; it needs to be seen from a systems point of view. It cannot be mechanically reduced or compartmentalized, symptoms vary greatly from person to person, and there is no single magic bullet to fix it. In fact, if anything, traditional medications given for some of the presenting symptoms often make the problem worse because they put an extra load on an already overtaxed liver to metabolize them. Until the way doctors are trained and what they are taught changes, and until doctors open up to different ways of seeing problems and different modalities to treat them, detoxification will have to be done outside of the conventional medical system. In functional medicine — one of the many systems I incorporate in my practice — detoxification is a key component.

Is there research on detoxification?

Although doctors may not recognize detoxification and many will think it’s a strange concept, there is a lot of research documenting its role in health and disease. We even have a scientific term for chemicals and substances that are foreign to the body and come from the external environment: xenobiotics. In the last 20 years, scientific discoveries have shown us more about our biochemistry and the intricacies of how the detoxification system actually works. We now know how to help its functioning through nutrition and lifestyle. We know what nutrients are needed for the system to function, what chemicals inhibit and which ones stimulate enzymes in the system. Cutting-edge science is giving us a more sophisticated understanding of how all of these chemicals from the environment interact with our bodies on genetic, cellular and molecular levels – how they are broken down and eliminated, what may prevent this, and what may help this process. There are also vast amounts of literature on where the huge amount of external toxins are coming from, and what they are doing not only to the environment but to our health and especially our children’s health.

What is an effective detox program?

To be completely effective, a detox program has to address both internal and external toxins. We obviously need to eliminate, as far as possible, the toxins we eat, drink, breathe and put on our bodies. But it’s just as important to address the internal toxicity created by the body as it performs its normal everyday functions. These biochemical, cellular and bodily activities generate substances that also need to be neutralized and/or eliminated to maintain good health.

The two key components of any detox program are decreasing the number of toxins going in and, at the same time, assisting the body’s capacity to neutralize and eliminate the toxins.

A comprehensive detox program must supply the appropriate nutrients to do this, and should include nutrients specifically to support the two most important detoxification organ systems: the liver and gastrointestinal tract.

Most detoxes on the market decrease the amount of external toxins and irritants that we put into our bodies. That is, they eliminate the foods that often cause sensitivities, reactions, irritation or inflammation. The most common ones are gluten, dairy, sugar, processed foods, factory-farmed meats, genetically modified foods, alcohol and caffeine. My “Remove Diet” gives a complete list of what you can and cannot eat during a detox.

But most do not adequately assist the body to neutralize and eliminate the toxins. In this day and age, supplying the specific nutritional ingredients to boost the body’s own capacity to detox is essential for a detox to have long-lasting effects. To prevent the accumulation of toxic products in the tissues, these nutrients should enhance liver function (as it is the main organ involved in transforming toxins into metabolites that are easier to excrete) and also promote gastrointestinal function. Because abnormal bacteria, yeast and parasites can release toxins and overload the liver’s capacity to deal with the flood of toxins, removing these and helping to balance the flora in the gut are essential. Aiding digestion with digestive enzymes to assist the body break down food properly ensures fewer negative effects from undigested foods. Adding fiber to “sweep” the intestines is also helpful. Fiber promotes the elimination of toxins and also binds to toxins, which helps to prevent their absorption. Dietary fiber is also metabolized by gut bacteria into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which feed the cells lining the intestines thereby supporting cellular integrity and decreasing inflammation.

In my view, an effective detox is not achieved just by fasting or limiting the intake of foods or simply juicing. That is just half the story. It is equally important and necessary to boost the body’s own detox function at the same time by supplying therapeutic amounts of the targeted nutrition you need to achieve this. From the results I’ve seen in my practice, I am a firm believer that a well-functioning detoxification system will keep your engine humming and is one of the essential keys to maintaining good health.

Photo Credit: Maschinenraum