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One Shot at a Time, Part 2

5/2/2014

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The diseases are not that scary when you actually understand them...Let's compare the risks of each disease for which we vaccinate against the vaccines, one by one.


We are chipping away and examining the vaccines in the strongly recommended schedule. Let's get to it...


The above photos are of Kawasaki's Disease, a common risk with many vaccines.


H. Influenza Type B (Hib)
​Vaccine Timing
: 2 months, 4 months, 6 months and 12 months
Risks associated with Hib:

Hib is a type of flu, H. Influenza Type B, which caused bacterial meningitis. It was a nasty disease when it was here (prior to 1990), with about 12,000 cases a year in the US.  Of those 12,000 cases, the death rate was approximately 5% and among survivors, approximately 25-35% suffered from neurological complications (often hearing loss).  At this particular time, this bacteria is pretty much gone, making the risk of contracting it very low.

Hib Vaccine Ingredients:
Hib (ActHIB)
ammonium sulfate, formalin, sucrose, Modified Mueller and Miller medium
OR
Hib (Hiberix)
formaldehyde, lactose, semi-synthetic medium
OR
Hib (PedvaxHIB)
aluminum hydroxphosphate sulfate, ethanol, enzymes, phenol, detergent, complex fermentation medium

Risks Associated With Hib Vaccine:  
Since the bacteria is not here, the molecular mimicry that we discussed in the last post is the primary concern. With an abundance of T-Cells in the body and no bacteria or virus to attack, the T-Cells will start to attack the body instead, causing auto-immune diseases.  A study of 200,000 children found that kids with 4 doses of Hib had a 26% higher rate of Type 1 Diabetes which developed 3-4 years post-vaccination. Source. There is now great concern of a penicillin-resistant pneumococci and increased frequency of pneumococcal diseases because of mass Hib vaccination.

Pneumococcal Disease:
Vaccine (PCV 13) Timing: 2, 4, 6, and 12 months
General Information:
PCV13 contains 13 strain of bacteria, so in a sense it is 13 vaccines in one shot.
​
Risks Associated with Pneumococcal Disease:  
VERY low for healthy babies and children. High risk groups include those with predisposing conditions such as immunoglobulin deficiency, Hodgkin's disease, immunodeficiency disorders including HOV, nephrotic syndrome, some viral upper respiratory tract infections, splenic dysfunction, no spleen, and organ transplants. (3)


PCV13 Ingredients:  
Here are the carcinogenic and neurotoxic ingredients (5):
casamino acids, yeast, ammonium sulfate, polysorbate 80, succinate buffer, aluminum phosphate, soy peptone broth


Risks Associated with PCV13:  
Besides the common fever, change of appetite and sleep, irritability, and muscle and joint pain, the following took place during clinical trials (copied and pasted directly from the package insert):

Serious adverse events reported following vaccination in infants and toddlers occurred in 8.2% among Prevnar 13 recipients and 7.2% among Prevnar recipients.(4) 

According to the manufacturer's 
package insert: 
The following adverse events were included based on one or more of the following factors: severity, frequency of reporting, or strength of evidence for a causal relationship to Prevnar 13 vaccine.
Administration Site Conditions: Vaccination-site dermatitis, vaccination-site pruritus, vaccination-site urticaria
Blood and Lymphatic System Disorders: Lymphadenopathy localized to the region of the injection site

Cardiac Disorders: Cyanosis
Immune System Disorders: Anaphylactic/anaphylactoid reaction including shock 
Nervous System Disorders: Hypotonia
Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue Disorders: Angioneurotic edema, erythema multiform 
Respiratory: Apnea
Vascular Disorders: Pallor

There were 3 (0.063%) deaths among Prevnar 13 recipients, and 1 (0.036%) death in Prevnar. 

All 4 events (hypotonic-hypononresponsive episode) occurred in a single clinical trial in Brazil in which subjects received whole cell pertussis vaccine at the same time as Prevnar 13 or Prevnar.

Reactions occurring in greater than 1% of infants and toddlers: diarrhea, vomiting, and rash. Reactions occurring in less than 1% of infants and toddlers: crying, hypersensitivity reaction (including face edema, dyspnea, and bronchospasm), seizures (including febrile seizures), and urticaria or urticaria-like rash.
 
When we keep hearing from our pediatricians, the media, the CDC, and the FDA that vaccine are so harmless that only 1:1,000,000 have reactions it might be easy to feel caught off-guard and silly if you are not prepared. Is that really true...1 in a million??? No.

​Almost 1% of children vaccinated (.8%) with an aluminum-containing vaccine in a study had intense, long-lasting (75% still had symptoms after 4 years) itchy nodules. (5)

The amount of aluminum in a vaccine is not supposed to exceed 1.25mg. On any given scheduled vaccination day a child commonly would get at least 4 vaccines containing aluminum which could bring the dose of aluminum to as much as 1.475mg and this schedule is repeated several times throughout the childhood vaccine schedule. The Hepatitis B vaccine alone has .5mg of aluminum hydroxide. (5)

Aluminum is eliminated from the body primarily via kidneys, which are not at full-capacity until 1-2 years of age. When aluminum enters the bloodstream it exhibits neurotoxic behavior and where it can enter the brain and inhibit the blood brain barrier (BBB) functions which result in significant neuron damage to the CNS (Central Nervous System). This damage removes the protection of the brain from other toxins in the blood. (5)

As a perspective on a risks vs. benefits piece, I just need to state the obvious here. We are knowingly injecting our infants several times during the first 2 years of life before their kidneys are fully-functional (and are capable of removing it) with a substance that is KNOWN to cause brain damage, as described above, not knowing the long-term consequences of this action because double blind studies have never been done on vaccines.  To reiterate, there have never been double blind studies on vaccines to observe anything, including kidney damage, long-term brain function, learning abilities, IQ impact, or disease rates. We do this in order to "protect them" against illnesses for which they have little or no risk. And we do this knowing that there are some risks, many actually, that are not fully-disclosed to parents by our pediatricians, who repeatedly tell us they are perfectly safe. They can say that confidently, knowing that they can never be held liable if your child has a reaction to the vaccine.   


Rotavirus:
Vaccine Timing: 2, 4 , and 6 months

Risks Associated with Rotavirus:
Rotavirus is a virus that causes diarrhea, vomiting, and low-grade fever. It is spread from feces to mouth in young children. Prognosis? Excellent. There is no medication for aside from hydration and electrolytes. In breast-fed children the risk is lower because the babies usually receive antibodies from mother's milk. Where medical care is readily accessible, including hydration therapy if needed, full recovery can be expected. In developing countries where hydration therapy (or even clean water) is not available, children can die from dehydration.

Rotavirus Ingredients:
Rotavirus (RotaTeq)
sucrose, sodium citrate, sodium phosphate monobasic monohydrate, sodium hydroxide, polysorbate 80, cell culture media, fetal bovine serum, vero cells [DNA from porcine circoviruses (PCV) 1 and 2 has been detected in RotaTeq. PCV-1 and PCV-2 are not known to cause disease in humans.]
OR
Rotavirus (Rotarix)
amino acids, dextran, sorbitol, sucrose, calcium carbonate, xanthan, Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, ferric (III) nitrate, sodium phosphate, sodium pyruvate, D- glucose, concentrated vitamin solution, L-cystine, L-tyrosine, amino acids solution, L-glutamine, calcium chloride, sodium hydrogenocarbonate, and phenol red) [Porcine circovirus type 1 (PCV-1) is present in Rotarix. PCV-1 is not known to cause disease in humans.]

Risks Associated with the Rotavirus Vaccine (6):
The vaccine contains live virus, so the baby being vaccinated can contract the disease from the vaccine and also spread the disease. Common side-effects include...are you ready??? diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and stomach pain. Other risks associated with this vaccine include: 

Gastrointestinal Disorders: Intussusception (including death), recurrent intussusception (including death), hematochezia, gastroenteritis with vaccine viral shedding in infants with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease (SCID).
Blood and Lymphatic System Disorders: Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Vascular Disorders:
Kawasaki disease.

Special Note and Call to Action...
Rotavirus Vaccine was developed and pioneered by Dr. Paul Offit. Offit is a name you need to remember if you don't already know it. He is hailed as a vaccine hero among pro-vax media, pharma, physicians and hospitals. He is a vaccine bully who advocates removal of faith-based exemption of vaccines, calling it neglect. He is staunchly against dietary supplements and alternative medicine and it appears he would like to see our free-choice revoked regarding vaccines and also eliminate our choices regarding all holistic healthcare. He made the claim that an infant could safely withstand 100,000 vaccines at once. This was printed in the CHOP Parents Pack, link here. I would like to challenge Paul Offit, and any and every doctor that supports his views to lead by example. Help reduce our concerns by receiving 100,000 vaccines at once to show us first hand that they are not harmful.

Please, Mr. Offit
(and any/all of his supporters) go on national television and receive 100,000 vaccines. I later heard you changed that to 10,000 vaccines. Again, if you have decided that 100,000 is too many, but 10,000 is safe for an infant...prove it. Go on 20/20, Dr. Oz, FOX, Dateline, the News or any other program and get 10,000 vaccines at once and then let the public follow your health journey so that we can see just how safe it is. If you survive, show us with regular check-ups that you will not develop diseases that give rise for concern among the vaccine-resistant population such as cancer, diabetes, Kawasaki's, arthritis, brain damage, or any number of other autoimmune disorders or diseases. We want to see that your kidneys function perfectly and there are no implications of Alzheimer's following or cancer in your near future. If you really want to impress us, you could have full blood-work, scans, and the like before and then periodically in the years following to prove no harm has come your way from vaccine doses you claim to be safe for a developing infant. Be willing to back up your own statement and put your health on the line and do this yourself. Maybe, just maybe, if we could get you and even 20, out of the tens of thousands of pro-vaccine physicians, to televise such an event by all getting 100,000 (or 10,000 if you are afraid of 100,000) vaccines to prove just how safe they are, and we could follow-up by checking in every month for 5 years (many things like Type 1 Diabetes shows up after 3-4 years), if we could see that you are all in perfect health, disease-free, I might start to think they are not as harmful as I thought and reconsider my position. It would be a great opportunity for you to prove to the masses you consider so foolish and negligent that you are right and vaccines are perfectly safe. Unfortunately, the odds of any doctor, including the one who made the claim, stepping up to this challenge are highly unlikely.

Stay tuned for Part 3, coming soon... 
 

Courtney Charles is a frequent contributor for TruthKings. Connect with her on Facebook or on her website alabasterliving.com.

​

References:
1. Ref: Journal of Autoimmunity 35:247-253, 2002.
2. June 1992 Newsletter from Journal of Pediatric Infectious Disease
3. 1994 Red Book Report of the committee on Infectious Diseases 
4. CDC, ingredient list
5. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny citing: Simmer, K. Aluminum in Infancy. In:Zatta PF, Alfrey AC. (Eds) Aluminum Toxicity in Infants' Health and Disease. 1997, World Scientific Publishing.; Source: Berfors E, Vaccine. 2003 Dec 8;22(1):64-9 
6. Rotavirus package insert


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Vaccines...One Shot At A Time, Part 1

4/7/2014

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​
The diseases are not that scary when you actually understand them...Let's compare the risks of each disease for which we vaccinate against the vaccines, one by one.


Have you ever felt nervous about vaccinating
your child?  Maybe you were uncomfortable with the idea but did not know enough information to offer an explanation for your hesitation? Or maybe you finally worked up the courage to say something to your pediatrician or friends and were met with accusations of being irresponsible? Inconsiderate? A bad parent? A fool? Perhaps you were looked at with disgust for not taking a doctor's or nurses recommendation and then a tangible tension quickly entered the room? This has happened to me, and this has happened to some of my friends. 


I was not prepared...

When searching for a pediatrician, I had no idea that declaring that my children would not be vaccinated would ensue and instantaneous courtroom setting. In fact, I only interviewed pediatricians I was told were "non-vaccine" friendly. That was a stretch, she might have been tolerant just because she was willing to allow my child to be a patient while unvaccinated, but it was far more hostile than friendly. I was expected to defend my position as if in a court of law while she threw out blanket statements declaring why my reasons (that I had not even told her) were faulty. Since then I have been much more prepared to give an answer.  I'm going to unpack each vaccine one by one and hopefully you will be inspired to do some of your own research before making a decision about vaccines for your family.

Let's look at them one by one and take the mystery out of "avoiding deadly diseases".
We are going to examine the risks of each disease and then the risks of the vaccine for that particular disease. I want to unpack and uncomplicated all this information so that you can have an educated and confident response when your doctor pressures you with questions such as "Don't you want to protect your child from deadly diseases?!?!"  Let's be informed in advance so that when your doctor says you are risking your child's life, you are well aware of all the risks. 

Hepatitis B
Vaccine Timing: within hours of birth
General Information:
This vaccine is given within hours of birth in the hospital, unless you refuse it. (And sometimes even if you do refuse. If you do not plan to vaccinate your child, but you do plan to give birth in a hospital, take extra precautions to make sure that your child never leaves your side.)  Hepatitis B is most commonly contracted through blood, semen, or needle-sharing with someone who is infected.
The high-risk groups for this disease are IV drug users, prostitutes, and sexually active persons.  Because of this, babies are not considered a high-risk for this disease unless the mother tests positive for Hepatitis B as part of her prenatal care blood work.  The reason that babies receive the Hepatitis B shot is because it is done in other countries where higher rates of Hepatitis B occur, primarily due to prostitution. (source) It is also hailed as an anti-cancer vaccine because liver cancer rates are elevated in patients once infected with Hepatitis B. Though you might even hear statements such as “Don’t you want to protect your child from liver cancer later in life???” we need to be sober-minded…remember an important rule: Correlation does not equal causation. People develop liver cancer without having previous Hepatitis B infections. I wonder if a study will ever be done comparing the rates of liver cancer in patients who have been vaccinated with Hep B and those who have not. Actually, I don’t wonder that but I think the results would be interesting considering the carcinogens in the Hep B vaccine! 

Risks Associated With Hepatitis B:  
Most people (90%) who contract Hepatitis B recover within 12-14 days. Only  1.25% of people with Hepatitis B develop long term liver disease including cancer.  Since the high-risk groups for Hepatitis B include drug users and prostitutes, it is also entirely possible that there may be other contributing factors (such as poor diet or alcohol consumption or drug use) that lead to chronic liver disease. 

Hepatits B Vaccine Ingredients:

aluminum hydroxide, yeast protein, phosphate buffers, sodium dihydrogen phosphate dihydrate OR
yeast protein, soy peptone, dextrose, amino acids, mineral salts, potassium aluminum sulfate, amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate, formaldehyde, phosphate buffer 

BOTH versions contain carcinogens


What are the risks of the Hep B vaccine? 
"There is no doubt that the new recombinant Hep B virus vaccine has the ability to trigger autoimmunity." (1)
Autoimmune diseases can include Type 1 Diabetes, Kawasaki's disease, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and many others. The package insert includes the following possible side-effects: Headache, fatigue, dizziness, injection site erythema, induration, and/or swelling, upper respiratory tract illnesses, lymphadenopathy, anorexia, agitation, insomnia, somnolence, tingling, encephalopathy, hypotension, abdominal pain/cramps, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, erythema, petechiae, pruritus, rash, sweating, urticaria, arthralgia, back pain, myalgia, pain/stiffness in arm, shoulder, or neck, herpes zoster, meningitis, thrombocytopenia, anaphylactoid reaction, anaphylaxis, arthritis (usually transient), fever, and dermatologic reactions such as urticaria, erythema encephalitis, migraine, multiple sclerosis, neuritis, neuropathy including hypoesthesia, paresthesia, Guillain-Barré syndrome and Bell’s palsy, optic neuritis, paralysis, paresis, seizures, syncope, transverse myelitis, visual disturbances, vertigo, cardiac palpitations, tachycardia, vasculitis, apnea, bronchospasm including asthma-like symptoms, dyspepsia, alopecia, angioedema, eczema, erythema multiforme including Stevens-Johnson syndrome, erythema nodosum, lichen planus, purport, muscular weakness, abnormal liver function tests.
 The side-effects I highlighted in bold are ones I found to be particularly disturbing and some of them are associated with Autism. 

Autoimmune diseases are escalating in children including Type 1 Diabetes. The CDC states that nearly 1/400-500 children are affected and risk of death is 20x greater than those without Type 1 Diabetes.  More children die from cancer than any other disease in the US.  What is YOUR child at greater risk for: diabetes (affecting more than 1/500), cancer (affecting 1/2.5 in a lifetime), autism (affecting 1/50)....or Hepatitis B whose high-risk group does not include children born to Hepatitis B negative mothers?



IPV, the inactivated Polio vaccine:
Vaccine Timing: 2 months, 4 months, and again at 6 months old
General Information:

There are reasons many people believe that the vaccine had nothing to do with polio eradication, but that is a topic for another post. Polio is a butt-to-mouth disease. It was most common in children. Children are more likely to have polio than adults because they lack the inhibitions adults have. If a child has an itch, there is nothing to stop them from sticking their hand right down their pants to scratch it. Within minutes, their hands are in their mouths. Polio is spread from feces to mouth. Right around the time the vaccine was introduced, the United States was also improving plumbing and water supply for sanitary hand-washing and sewage removal. Completely unrelated to vaccines or disease in any way, the show "Filthy Cities" gives amazing insight into the living conditions that were present prior to adequate plumbing and sanitization, and unintentionally reveals how pivotal the introduction of such sanitization was changing the course of disease!

Risk Associated with Polio (USA):
Pretty much zero, we have been Polio free since 1979. But, even if someone
was traveling to another country and was not only exposed to Polio but actually contracted the disease...the Merck manual says that more than 90% of Polio cases simply resembled the stomach flu, another 5% had Abortive Polio which included a sore throat, and another 3% had Non-Paralytic Polio which includes some limb weakness and numbness. This 98% of people infected with polio had a complete recovery (and have life long immunity) and the symptoms resolved within 10-14 days. About 2% (slightly less) had Paralytic Polio. Of this 2% it is divided into 3 subcategories, but among the 3 more than 50% had a complete recovery rate, and in the other 50% some had a longer recovery and some did not fully recover - having some paralysis and some died. Of that 2%, 2% had Bulbar Polio, which was the horrific kind shown on TV (that is less than .04% of the people that contracted Polio). Source

IPV Ingredients:
2-phenoxyethanol, formaldehyde, neomycin, streptomycin, polymyxin B, monkey kidney cells, Eagle MEM modified medium, calf serum protein, Medium 199 


Risks Associated with IPV:
A book called The Virus and The Vaccine which is well-documented discusses the link between the Polio vaccine and cancer. The vaccine contains formaldehyde (a known carcinogen), parts from monkeys, eagles, and calves (which might present a moral objection for some individuals),
and just as concerning, the possibility of creating a unique disease through the contaminated cells used in the vaccine. c"The most common contaminant virus found in bovine serum is a member of the pestivirus family called bovine diarrhea virus (BVDV). All commercially available bovine (cow) serum is thought to be contaminated with this virus. Vaccines grown on contaminated cells may, in turn, have viral contaminants in the final product. The animal viruses can combine with viruses in the vaccine and become an active, unique disease." (2) 

Now, I could go into all of the various risks of the vaccine but I really do not think it is necessary. Since Polio has been eradicated from the Western Hemisphere for decades and 98% of those who do get it recover within 2 weeks, the risks of Polio in most areas in little to none. This is an excerpt from the IPV package insert: 
"deaths have occurred in temporal association after vaccination of infants with IPV."
I would never risk cancer or death from a vaccine overhear of a disease I will never be exposed to. Who would???

DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) Vaccine:
Vaccine Timing: 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months of age

Risks of Diphtheria:
Caused by the release of a toxin from the C. diphtheria bacteria and can cause heart inflammation and paralysis of the soft palate. Several strains of C. diphtheria exist but most do not produce the toxin. The bacteria then needs to be infected by a specific virus, B phage, to produce the toxin. IF there is no medical care available, the death rate is up to 10%. Mainly occurs in pockets of the world where medical care is scarce and the last outbreak was several years ago in Russia among approximately 900 people amidst a homeless and chronic alcoholic area. As of 1999 there were 3 cases per year in the US. Diphtheria can be treated with antibiotics.

Risks of Tetanus:
An anaerobic bacteria which dies in the presence of oxygen. If there was a deep puncture wound, generally from stepping on a rusty nail infected with the bacteria from cow, sheep, or pig manure, the bacteria could contaminate the blood stream.  If someone does get a high-risk puncture wound, it takes 2 weeks for the spore to germinate into the bacteria and release the toxin. Because of the lengthy germination period, getting the vaccine after a high-risk injury is an option. The diagnosis is entirely clinical - there are no blood tests or other tests to confirm it, it is based on suspicion and symptoms. Recovery can take several weeks to several months. The survival rate is over 89% (but it is unknown if there may have been other circumstances that contributed to death such as a bad accident where tetanus was also involved). Between 1995 and 1997, 124 cases of Tetanus occurred in the US, of which 53.7% had unknown vaccination status and 13% had been vaccinated. (Did you get that??? You can still get tetanus if you are fully vaccinated against it) If you have a high risk injury, you could also opt to get the antibody injected after the fact instead of the vaccine, neither of which is 100% effective, and Tetanus can also be treated with antibiotics. There are also cleaning techniques to flush the wound and allow it to bleed freely to flush out the bacteria, apply hydrogen peroxide - which delivers oxygen to the wound, remember the bacteria can not live in the presence of oxygen.    
But let's just think it through for a second...If you are not letting your 2, 4, and 6 month olds walk around (as if they could walk) areas that have sharp, rusty objects and animal feces your child has just about zero risk of getting a tetanus infected puncture wound. 

As an aside, tetanus is one of the required vaccines for many children entering school and also one required in California’s passed SB 277 law - TETANUS IS NOT CONTAGIOUS AND CHILDREN CAN NOT SPREAD IT IF INFECTED!


Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Risks:
Pertussis is an endemic disease, despite high vaccination rates. It is a very serious disease in babies under 2 months. Between 1980-1995 an average of 6 people per year died from Pertussis (which is .02% of pertussis patients).  It is successfully treated with Vitamin C.


DTaP ingredients:
DTaP (Daptacel)

aluminum phosphate, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, 2-Phenoxyethanol, Stainer-Scholte medium, modified Mueller’s growth medium, modified Mueller-Miller casamino acid medium (without beef heart infusion), dimethyl 1-beta-cyclodextrin, ammonium sulfate
DTaP (Infanrix)
formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, polysorbate 80, Fenton medium (containing bovine extract), modified Latham medium (derived from bovine casein), modified Stainer-Scholte liquid medium







Risks Associated With The DTaP Vaccine:

All DTaP vaccines contain formaldehyde (a known carcinogen) and aluminum. Read here about the danger of aluminum in vaccines, including its neurotoxic effects. Package inserts also list: Serum-sickness, all joints painful, headache, nausea, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmias, tachycardia, syncope (fainting), cranial nerve paralysis, neurological complications, seizures, and encephalopathy, anaphylaxis, and Guillian-Barre' Syndrome..."People who experience severe reactions most likely have high serum tetanus anti-body levels due to excess vaccination."

Special Risks Associated with Pertussis Vaccinations:

In 1998, 23 babies died the day after vaccination. In 2000, CDC reported that 17 babies died of Pertussis. Regarding the DTP vaccine (given in the 70's, 80's and 90's, but no longer administered in the US currently): "The relative risk of a previously normal infant developing permanent encephalopathy was 4.2 times greater during the first 72 hours following DTP vaccination than in controls. The risk of permanent brain damage following DTP (whole cell) has been calculated at 1:310,000 doses..."Note: that is PER dose, if each child got the full schedule of 3 doses, plus 2 boosters, the potential for DTP brain damage could be as frequent as 1:60,000...A safer vaccine (Acellular Pertussis) became available in 1937, but DTP was not removed from the market until 2001.  Whole cell vaccines are still used in third world countries because it is cheaper to make!” - Dr. Tenpenny (Taken from "The True Story of Pertussis Vaccination A Sordid Legacy?" D. Guyer and M. Guyer Allied Sci 2002:57 249-84.)  In March 2004, The First International Neonatal Conference in Washington, D.C. reported wanting to return the use of Whole Cell Pertussis vaccine - IN NEWBORNS! source



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We are off to a great start to examining the vaccines one by one. The next post will cover the rest of the 2 month vaccines. (The following vaccines are routinely given at 2 months and again at 4 months and 6 months: IPV, DTaP, Rota, Hib, PCV), followed by the rest of the childhood schedule. 



References:
(1) Cohen AD. Vaccine-induced autoimmunity. J. Autoimmun. Dec. 1996; 9(6):699-703.PMID:9115571 
(2) J Infect Dis. 1996 Dec;174(6): 1324-7. Contamination of commercially available fetal bovine sera with bovine diarrhea virus genomes: implications for the hepatitis V virus in cell cultures. (Via Saying No To Vaccines, by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny)
CDC: Epidemology and Prevention, The Pink Book 6th Edition, Ch. 6; Pertussis pg 69, Chapter 5 on Tetanus, p.65; Crone, N.E.; Reder, AT.; Severe tetanus in immunized patients with high anti-tetanus titers. Neurology.1992;42:761-4; MMWR Tetanus Surveillance July 1998/47 (55-2);p. 13; Tetanus toxoid package insert; Dr. Sherri Tenpenny - DVD Vaccines, the Risks, the Benefits, the Choices; (MMWR) July 19, 2002/51(28);616-618


Courtney Charles is a frequent contributor for TruthKings. Connect with her on Facebook or on her website alabasterliving.com.
​




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What is Alabaster Living? Thai Tom Ka Soup, Awesome Homemade Toothpaste, and bonus: Leftover Stir-fry...

3/13/2014

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I run out of ideas almost everyday and can feel overwhelmed easily about what we will eat for the next meal.

I wasn't going to include leftover stir-fry in this post, but I just threw some leftovers together for lunch while I blog and it was SO good, I have to share it. Here is my informal recipe...maybe soon I will post a formal one with pictures, but I wanted to pass this on for my readers running out of ideas.

I happened to have leftover basmati rice made, and leftover Satay Sauce. I quickly chopped up 1 green zucchini, 1 yellow squash, and the rest of my collard leaves (about 5) and steam-fried them, threw in the rice just before they got tender, and loaded it up with the Satay Sauce, sprinkled on some red pepper flakes, and enjoyed a great lunch!

Here are the other recipes for this post:

Thai Tom Ka (my favorite Thai soup, whole food style, vegan, and delicious!)

Incredible Toothpaste (ever hear how great baking soda is for your teeth? How about coconut oil? Do you know some of the benefits of essential oils on the teeth? This recipe brings it all together in one glorious oral hygiene symphony!)

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So, what about Alabaster Living?...

When I created this blog I wanted to venture off into something new (Alkaline Mom), but I just couldn't leave Alabaster out of it. That might sound strange, so I'll explain. When I first started my own business it was daunting to come up with a name. I wanted it to be so powerful and meaningful to me.  I had no idea how many chapters would be part of my career, but I wanted this name to travel with them all. The name ended up being The Alabaster Box.

Then it came to me in a message about a portion of scripture: Luke 7:36-50. As an herbalist/aromatherapist/massage therapist, the inclusion of an essential oil was very appealing and appropriate, but the deeper meaning was something I knew I wanted to be part of every aspect of my life.

In this passage, a sinful woman is broken before God, worshipping Christ at His feet in humble adoration. Sobbing at His feet, she pours out a jar (some translations say box) of spikenard oil and anoints Him in an act of worship. This costly oil was a common years' wage, and she poured it at His feet. Jesus knew the thoughts of Simon and his unrighteous judgments toward this woman and Jesus illustrated for him that those who are forgiven much, love much. All who receive forgiveness are forgiven much, but we are not always aware of it. Another important thing to notice is that the jar had to be opened (some even say broken) in order to get the fine oil from it. I think that in the same way, we (those that want forgiveness through Jesus Christ) need to be broken over our sin and open up to allow Jesus to come in and take over our lives in order for the sweetness of repentance can be poured out and flow from us into a life that honors God with humbleness and service to Him...

The first chapter of my career I was a massage therapist and herbalist, the following chapters included massage instructor (school name was The Alabaster Box Institute of Massage Therapy), holistic product designer and producer, and now a mom and blogger, I want to pour my entire life out as an offering for Jesus. I don't always do this the way I want to...well, actually, I rarely do... but it is my heart's desire to live my life, every portion of it, as a life poured out for Christ. So, I had to remind myself what this is all about, and keeping Alabaster as part of my blog name reminds me that pouring it all out for Jesus everyday, no matter what I am doing - including striving to raise a healthy family and encouraging others along the way.

Here is the passage that has inspired the name: 

A Sinful Woman Forgiven- Luke 7:36-50

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say amongfn themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”



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General Tso's Veg and Chocolate Puddings

2/18/2014

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Inspired by 2 other bloggers this week (Vegan Richa and Laura from Petit Allergy Treats) I got in the kitchen and came out with something amazing.


First of all, I LOVE Vegan Richa, she's awesome! I started out making one of her dishes (cauliflower hot wings) and took a few turns, ending up with General Tso's Veg...which was truly glorious take-out nostalgia in my mouth! :)

Then, I was toying around with Laura's chocolate avocado truffles and made a few changes resulting in some great chocolate pudding. I wanted something with much less caffeine and much less acidic (so less cocoa) for my little one, but I also want something healthier my husband will gladly enjoy instead of just eating handfuls of vegan chocolate chips. (which likely have GMO soy lecithin in them) So I have 2 versions of pudding...


The first one, by best estimate contains about 6 mg of caffeine per 1/2 batch which should be almost 1/2 cup depending on the size of your avocado. That is the same amount of caffeine as 1/2 cup of chocolate ice cream. (source, source)

Avocados are one of the healthiest foods you can eat, packed with tons of alkaline mineral salts, chlorophyll, healthy fats, 13 vitamins, and 11 minerals! Here is more nutrition info on the avocado - eat as many of them as you can as part of an alkaline diet!


Enjoy!!!



General Tso's Veg

Chocolate Pudding, 2 ways




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I grabbed my camera to take pictures of the delicious pudding, but by the time I got over to the bowl of pudding, it was gone! :)

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Shocking Truths about Essential Oils…and a little more on Essential Oil Companies!

1/30/2014

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 First of all, I mentioned on facebook that there is a particular essential oil company that I truly dislike. I was not sure if I was going to reveal the company by name, but a lot of people have really wanted to know which one, and why. I have to admit, I used to find most, not all MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) companies, well, rather…sleazy. But, there is one company that has offended me professionally AND spiritually.

Would you be offended ???


if a company tried to hijack the healing miracles Jesus performed by the power of God to sell their product? Try this statement on for size and see how it fits: “Even Jesus used essential oils in His healing ministry. “ Offensive. Untrue. To me, truly despicable.

I’ll get back to that…But 1st, lets expose some myths that you might have heard from various representatives from MLM essential oil companies. Everyone that  is in the market to buy oils wants to make sure they get a quality product that will work, but can you really trust what you hear???:



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MYTHS:

1. Only our oils are the best.

This is something that people are told by the company they represent. This is ridiculous. Essential oils contain special properties called active constituents. These properties carry out the intended action of the plant. It is rare to find an oil so badly produced or impure that it doesn’t actually work the way it should, and I will go over how to avoid such oils later in this post.



2. Other’s oils have gases added to keep the shelf life.

This one was actually something that someone posted on a poll on my facebook page. This is not true. I will explain how essential oils are actually made and why some are extracted using a gas. This gas helps extract the oil from certain plants, but is not actually in the essential oil after it is produced. They are not added to keep shelf life, and are not even in the final product.

3. They are not that expensive.

I will show you a price comparison in this post. When you actually know what essential oils should cost, this is clearly a myth.

4. Ours are safe to use undiluted (even on infants) and internally.

All pure essential oils are safe to use IF YOU KNOW HOW. This includes undiluted (referred to as “neat”) and internally, but these applications depend on the oil. I don’t care who makes the oil, there are some that are unsafe to use neat, internally, or even around certain people. This is not because the oils are low quality, it is because they are HIGH quality – meaning they have the active constituents they are supposed to in order to be therapeutic. Using essential oils neat on an infant should almost NEVER be done. Oils are only as safe as the amount of education possessed by the person administering them. Many oil reps are trained by the company for which they are selling oils. They mean well and they want the best for their customers, but it is not a company’s job to educate it’s distributors, it is their job to sell astronomical amounts of their product. From the reps I have spoken to, it is often even dangerous to use essential oils based on their advice.

5. Our oils come from the best farms and have the best manufacturing procedures.

This is something that only a company will boast about. Companies indoctrinate their sellers on their procedures and ingrain into them why and how they are different from the others. When it all boils down to it, there usually is very little difference, and what is actually different is not always as good as they make it sound. I will go into more detail about this and explain why I don’t say this lightly. One example is a certain company boasts that it owns all of their farms. Most of these farms are in the United States, but in order to get the best quality oil, it should come from the part of the world that it is indigenous to or grows the best in. That is how it gets the highest level of active constituents. 




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Lets take a break from the MLM exposure for some Intro to Aromatherapy 101 and then look at a fun little price chart comparing some essential oil prices:


What is Aromatherapy? Essential Oils?... and how are they made?

The most accurate definition I can find is this: Aromatherapy is a branch of herbalism which uses essential oils for therapeutic purposes. Essential oils are extremely concentrated substances, also called volatile oils, which have complex chemical structures and contain many active constituents responsible for carrying out therapeutic actions on the body.

Aromatherapy, contrary to how the name sounds, actually has very little to do with smell.  Aromatherapy is termed because one of the ways that the components of the essential oils enter the body is through the olfactory nerves in the nose going directly to the brain. The oils are highly volatile, making them extremely odorous, but how they smell is secondary to their purpose. They smell like the plant they were derived from. They also enter the blood stream through topical application on the skin, and sometimes taken orally. Oils are chosen by a skilled aromatherapist or herbalist based on their chemical components and desired effect, such as anti-inflammatory or anti-septic.

There are a few ways the essential oils are obtained from the plants and this process requires specialized equipment. Each method has a valuable place in the making of essential oils as some plants yield better results with one method over another. The most common way is by steam distillation. This method is most effective for most plants and the most commonly used overall. There is also cold-pressed, used primarily for citrus plants which have a very high yield and are easily extracted. Third, there is CO2 distillation and supercritical CO2 extraction. These methods are important because they allow the plants to be processed at lower temperatures while giving a higher yield (for many plants, but not all). In CO2 distillation, the end product has no CO2 left behind as it evaporates and you are left with a very pure product which is also very accurate to the original plant state because of the low temperature. Finally, there are absolutes. There are a few plants which do not yield much oil to steam distillation and are extremely expensive to process because they have very low amounts of essential oil in them, such as rose and jasmine. These are often processed as absolutes and are technically not essential oils. They are about 50% essential oil and 50% wax or carrier oil, but still offer therapeutic results.

So what's with all the manufacturer’s hype about processing???

So now that you know how oils are actually produced, why do companies boast with all their might that THEY are in a league all their own because they process them differently? Well, there are some variations in how these processing methods can vary. Different plants need different temperatures and pressures to extract the most oil while keeping it the most true to the original plant. Unless you know what each plant needs (temp and pressure needs) asking company reps is well…futile. Even if you called the company to ask what temps their oils are processed at, they would likely sing you a song about how their unique practices make theirs the best, but each plant is different. So in all reality, they should be making adjustments in processing for each plant. Most companies source out their oils, do tests to ensure quality, and choose which they like the best. Some do process their own plants, but for me, as long as the end product gives me the results I want, it doesn't matter if “Bob” grows his own lavender and extracts the oil himself, or if “Jane” samples 30 different farms’ lavender oils and tests and investigates them and chooses which one she decides is best. When you take the labels off, they are suddenly on equal playing field. I don't have anything against any oil companies oils, just some company politics, if you will.  You might find that you like some oils from company A better than company B and other oils better from company B than company A. And that you might even like some oils even better from C and D.


If you were to do a blind study, sampling various oils from different companies and comparing your results while not being able to see the label, I doubt you choose the same company every time. You probably couldn’t even tell the difference for most oils. In fact, I set out a challenge on social media, having friends that represent different companies. And of course, they have friends that do the same…WOULD YOU BELIEVE NOT ONE person was willing to accept my challenge to a fun little blind experiment??? I was very disappointed, I really wanted to be able to share the results in this post. But, I hope you are learning enough without it. ;)


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SO here is the little price comparison chart I promised:

                       Young Living                  doTerra                     Starwest

Lavender             $33.22                        $30.67                      $7.83
Peppermint         $28.29                         $29.33                     $6.33
Lemon                 $15.79                        $14.67                     $6.00
Clary Sage          $66.78                        $48.67                     $12.42
Eucalyptus          $20.07                        $22.67                     $5.17

Frankincense      $103.29                      $90.67                     $7.08
Tea Tree              $36.51                        $28                          $6.33


So, can you get bad oils and how do you avoid them?

The only thing you really need are transparent, 3rd party tests on the websites. This should be standard and simple. Some companies boast at the number of levels deep they test. As long as they have all the info, that's all that matters: heavy metals, pesticides, molds, contaminants, solvents, purity, potency...

For many years I have used a wholesale brand. But when my company came out with a brand, all the documentation on the site showing perfect, highest quality attainable at prices that rivaled my wholesale prices, I was thrilled! 


So what about the company I find offensive? The company I admit to dislike: Young Living, and for several reasons. Here are my ramblings on that…

First, that statement using Jesus for sales, yes, that was from Gary Young, the founder of Young Living. This statement was on their website years ago. I feel that the company (not the sales reps) take advantage of people by the way I observe sales and marketing strategies.Their sales reps are often trained by the company which seems to indoctrinate them with a lot of un-truths that they pass on to customers...they boast that YL oils are the only ones that are therapeutic grade, insisting that this is important to look for in an oil to ensure it’s quality. Do you know that YL actually has the term “therapeutic grade” trademarked?  I am unaware if the reps even know this, and assuming the best about people choose to believe that they don't. 

They also boast that their oils are the only ones recommended by the Center for Aromatherapy Research and Education. Really??? That would be pretty impressive...but wait...could that be because Gary Young owns the association? This is not some third party unbiased research foundation. I find that to be a very misleading business strategy to start a foundation with an impressive name that seems to only back your product, which happens to sell for astronomically high prices. And remember back in the beginning of this post when I uncovered some common myths? Well, the one about gases being added, that came from a YL sales associate. Could this company be falsely educating their in order to sell product?  This is a great example of why people should be taught at a college, not a company, if they want a good education on essential oils.


Third: dangers. Gary Young developed Raindrop Technique. This is not only dangerous according to any well-educated aromatherapist, using essential oils in an unsafe manner but equally aggravating, it boasts benefits that are 100% false, including a cure for scoliosis. As an aromatherapist, advanced bodywork practitioner of 25 years and instructor, I can guarantee that there is no amount of oil that you can apply to the spine to correct true scoliosis.   Here is a link to a great article explaining more on that. On the same page, there is a great link to some dangers, too. It was from YL sales associates that I have been told you can apply their oils directly to babies and could not be allergic to their oils.  This is untrue and unsafe information.

The topic of essential oils can get heated fast...

It is interesting to me that like-minded individuals who use essential oils (not a very mainstream practice) can get so angry at each other over something beautiful they have in common…and worse yet, over something as trivial as what brand of product they use. I don’t exclude myself from this entirely. My husband can testify to how agitated I can get about Young Living when I encounter people boasting about it…and now you know why. And hopefully that is not the only thing you learned from this post.

Isn’t it ironic how volatile the topic of essential oils can be?

Summary: Essential oils are awesome. People that use in their business them should be trained...and NOT by a company, by a reputable school. :)

I challenge anyone that uses oils in their daily life to get a few books on the subject, NOT written by a company affiliate. Before using an oil, especially on a young person, check to make sure that you are using the best oil for the intended results and that there are no safety issues. Better yet, if you use them on a regular basis, I challenge you to take a class from a National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) and/or Alliance of International Aromatherapists (AIA) approved school.


Greater challenge: Anyone using essential oils in their business should be certified.  While writing this post I did some research on schools to include for your benefit. You can learn at home, at your own pace and get certified in aromatherapy. I looked into some schools so that I could recommend one to the readers. I found a favorite! The coursework far exceeded that of others I read about... and the price is fantastic... you can become certified and qualified to use oils professionally. Not a bad investment in your business to keep your clients safe and get them the best results. 

The topic of safety is so important. ..

I have actually known people that may have suffered serious damage from improper use of essential oils. Though the link was never traced back, I know that the people were using large amounts of oils highly contraindicated for their conditions. One example includes pre-term labor (at 26 weeks) and another case that may have lead to an aneurism. One of these people was trained, but poorly (a topic for another post).  

The school I chose is West Coast Institute of Aromatherapy. I get nothing for the referral, I just like the program!


I am eager to hear your comments and engage on the topic of essential oils, aromatherapy, and herbalism!




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Detox Month Part 5: I Feel Terrible On This Detox!?!, Measuring Your pH, and 10 Recipes!!!

1/18/2014

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Do you feel horrible after eating green on this detox? That is a sign you could be doing a great job! When you eat alkaline and give your body a chance to clean out, it does just that. As it pulls toxins from deeper in your organs and tissues so it can flush them out, you can feel pretty poor as they float around on their way to elimination.

Using litmus paper can be a fun way to track your detox. Here are the basics:

Test your saliva first thing in the morning and every time you go to the bathroom. Your saliva pH indicated your alkaline reserves. I am not going to explain it all in this post because it involves New Biology, what I believe is a far more accurate view of how the body works, developed by Dr. Young, and it is too involved for this post. According to New Biology, however, we should have alkaline reserves in our gut, NOT ACID. So your saliva indicates this. When it tests below 7, take ½-1 teaspoon of baking soda in water.

Test your urine pH whenever you urinate. Your urine pH reflects your tissue pH. When it tests below 7, take another baking soda shot. Your tissues hold fluids and when your body fluids are alkaline, your urine pH is alkaline.

Both your saliva and urine pH can and will shift and change throughout the day with different activities, foods, thoughts, and drinks. As you alkalize and your blood strives to maintain it’s delicate pH of 7.365, your urine and saliva need to change so that your blood pH can stay the same. When you alkalize, flooding your body with alkaline fluid, it neutralizes and flushes the acids and toxins. As the acids get flushed out, your urine pH can drop. This is why you can see a huge dip in urine pH DURING a cleanse. And also why you can feel pretty poor at times on a cleanse. It does not feel good when all those acids are circulating through your system. You will also have waves of very high urine and saliva pH during a cleanse, even up to 9.5 or 10 – great! This shows you are doing a great job! Keep Going!

 

Here are some more recipes to keep you going strong for this month’s detox:

Soups:

Lemon Ginger

Chard Soup

Cream of Broccoli

Ribolitta

Salads:

Fennel, Orange, Walnut Salad

Date and Fennel Jicama Salad

Sides:

Lemon, Pine Nut Quinoa

Meals:

Wrap

BLT

Alkaline Pizza
Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor. Consult your doctor before making any health changes. The views expressed are meant for informational and entertainment purposes, not medical advice.

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Detox Month, Part 4! Cream of tomato soup, alkaline mint ice cream, sweet green shake, and more...

1/7/2014

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You are already 1 week in...before you know it will be over. But before then, we need some more recipes to keep you going.

How about SUPER EASY
Cream of Tomato soup. It is almost like cheating it is so easy.

Need something a little sweet to change things up? Try alkaline Mint Ice cream or this
Sweet Green Shake!

Switch up your salads by using
Hummus as your dressing! My 2 year old loves this.

And here is one a little more elaborate...a French restaurant I used to love inspired salad: Spinach, feta, bacon, and strawberry dressing.
Delight of France. Yup, still vegan...and unique enough from all the other salads we have made so far to not feel like we are exhausting ourselves on lettuce. :)

How about some Alkaline Mint Ice Cream for a treat?




Hope you are enjoying your cleanse so far and feeling great!

There are several new products on the store page by request from some followers such as Potassium Iodide...Here is more on that from Dr. Robert O. Young:




Potassium Iodide (KI) may be used when it is desirable to maintain a high level of beneficial iodides in the thyroid gland. Iodide is a form of iodine that is preferentially taken up by the thyroid gland. This product also supports the body's normal detoxification of environmental, metabolic, gastrointestinal and respiratory acids, including the removal of heavy metals. Potassium Iodide helps shield (or block) the absorption of harmful radioactive iodine by the thyroid following a nuclear emergency.

Potassium iodide is a salt, similar to table salt. Its chemical symbol is KI. It is routinely added to table salt to make it iodized. Potassium iodide, if taken in time and at the appropriate dosage, blocks the thyroid gland's uptake of radioactive iodine and thus could reduce the risk of thyroid cancers and other diseases that might otherwise be caused by exposure to radioactive iodine that could be dispersed in a severe nuclear accident.



    • Potassium iodide is a blocker of thyroid radio-iodine uptake.
    • Promotes healthy metabolism
    • Supports the immune function
    • Supports a healthy thyroid
    • Promotes breast and prostate health
    • Combats iodine deficiency that causes hypothyroidism
    • Supports balanced mood
    • Assist in regulation of healthy pulse and blood pressure
    • Promotes the destruction of harmful cells
    • Helps to decrease high blood sugar and cholesterol levels
    • Detoxifies the body from heavy metals, radioactive elements, free radicals and metabolic acids
    • Helps those who are overweight by improving the function of the gastro-intestinal tract
    • Improves the structure of hair and nails and helps them grow
    • Helps to detoxify smokers from strontium and cadmium



The United States government mandates the distribution of Potassium Iodide to the population within 10 miles of any nuclear power plant. The following information is taken directly from The U.S. Nuclear Regulation Commissions (NRC) website. links have been provide below.

What is potassium iodide?

Potassium iodide is a salt, similar to table salt. Its chemical symbol is KI. It is routinely added to table salt to make it "iodized." Potassium iodide, if taken in time and at the appropriate dosage, blocks the thyroid gland's uptake of radioactive iodine and thus could reduce the risk of thyroid cancers and other diseases that might otherwise be caused by exposure to radioactive iodine that could be dispersed in a severe nuclear accident.

What is the role of potassium iodide in radiological emergency preparedness?

Potassium iodide is a special kind of protective measure in that it offers very specialized protection. Potassium iodide protects the thyroid gland against internal uptake of radioiodines that may be released in the unlikely event of a nuclear reactor accident. The purpose of radiological emergency preparedness is to protect people from the effects of radiation exposure after an accident at a nuclear power plant. Evacuation is the most effective protective measure in the event of a radiological emergency because it protects the whole body (including the thyroid gland and other organs) from all radionuclides and all exposure pathways. Administering KI can be a reasonable, prudent, and inexpensive supplement to in-place sheltering and evacuation.


You can read more on the pH Miracle website!














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Detox Month, Part 3: more recipes, supplements, and Happy New Year!

1/1/2014

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Happy New Year! ...

Are you ready to start your cleanse for Detox Month? Well, I wanted one last chance to post some fabulous recipes to get you started, and will be continuing to post more salads, veggie soups, and helpful ideas throughout the month!




I thought I should address another topic that can be very helpful for a cleanse: supplements.

What supplements do you currently take? Here are some ideas to help you really clean out for detox month!

1. pHlush: this  is one of my favorite pH Miracle products. It works great to clean you colon from the layers of meat, cheese, and toxic waste pasted to the sides of it. Yuck. In order to be healthy and have healthy blood, you need to have a clean colon. If you want to save a little money, you could also take another magnesium supplement, but it is slightly more acidic than pHlush, so make sure you are also taking your baking soda regularly.

2. Baking Soda: This is critical to be alkaline and clean. If taking too much salt, you will get a flush, so if you are not used to it starting with a half dose will prevent that. Taking 1 teaspoon 3 times a day and working your way up to 5 teaspoons per day is awesome! We put a teaspoon in a small amount of water and take it like a shot. Upon waking, at bed, and 1-3 times in between. This will help you flush acids from your tissues and body. It will help you also retain your nutrients and prevent your body from robbing itself of calcium, magnesium, and various minerals salts to buffer acidic foods you consume. It is a big deal! Most people don't enjoy it at first, but it does grow on you. It also eliminates heartburn, reduces joint pain and muscle pain, and even stops the hiccups! Contrary to most, the perspective of Dr. Young is that most people do NOT GET ENOUGH salt in their daily diet. Baking soda is a way to increase your healthy salts and without it, you can not alkalize easily!

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3. Activated Charcoal: This is great to help bind toxins and acids and remove them from the body. It is also great to have on hand in case you fall off the wagon and eat something you shouldn't! We usually take a teaspoon everyday, and extra if we feel less than vibrant. :)

4. DepHense: Another pH Miracle product fantastic to clean the body of yeast, fungus, and garbage. It is also great to have on hand if anyone starts to feel under the weather in any way. We love it!

5. Alkaline Water: If you do not have an ionizer/alkalizer, I recommend one. It is important to drink pure, alkaline water...and you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on a machine. Send me a message to learn how to get a great machine for under $700! If you just can not afford or do not have one, there is still a way to get alkaline water...by using PuripHy. Just add a few drops to every quart of water and you are hydrating your body with much better water!




And...As promised, here are a few more recipes to start off Detox Month:

Not Hot Bacon Dressing Salad

Mediterranean Salad

Cream of Zucchini Soup

So, now this totals 7 new recipes to start you off! I would love to hear if you make them, how you like them!


















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 Detox Month, Part 2! More tips and a few more green recipes...

12/27/2013

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We started off 

with 2 fresh salads, but I wanted to add some more ideas to keep you going...

It really helps to have a plan and maybe some day I will do a group cleanse, but for now, I just want everyone to be encouraged to be as healthy as possible, and help make it a success!



Here are some thoughts on how to navigate your daily routine in cleanse mode:

1. Start off with your daily green shake - see the blog post if you missed it or forget...

2. Have another green shake for lunch or a salad! Or make your salad into a sandwich by making it a wrap on sprouted whole grain bread (be sure to avoid any breads or wraps with corn in them!)

3. Snack! Some snack ideas are kale chips, avocados, or raw nuts such as almonds, pecans, or walnuts.

4. For Dinner: Have another filling salad, a veggie soup, or change your salad up a bit like and try these:

Chili Salad
Thai Salad












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Are you full yet? Let's Make January Alkaline, Vegan, Detox Month!

12/26/2013

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After the start of the 4th quarter launching off with Halloween candy we have followed with 2 more months of parties and feasts, possibly full of meats, cheese, candies, cakes, wine, beer, and other spirits. Many of my friends are feeling so full of toxic acid I decided to offer a little encouragement by starting a month long detox train. Hop on, and let me know if you are joining in. I hope to post recipes of salads and soups and ideas to make this month of detox a success for all of you!

First of all, start your day with your daily green shake. Have at least 1 or 2 salads a day for meals, and the rest of the time, commit to abstaining from at least a few major acids such as meat, dairy, sugar, coffee, dessert, and/or eggs, etc. Join the conversation and tell me what you are going to forgo for your cleanse, I would love to hear!  

Here are a few salads to get you started. I always say that if you are going to be eating salad for most of your meals, it is so important to really make them different and exciting to stay the course.

Here are a few of my favorites:


Hard Salad (the easy way)

Easy Salad










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This week: Recipes: Lasagna, Green Breakfast Cookies, and Satay Kale Chips... Gluten Free, Vegan, Sugar Free, and Yummy!

12/4/2013

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Lasagna

Green Breakfast Cookies
Satay Kale Chips
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Drink a Daily Green Shake!

11/24/2013

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A great way to get lots of veggies
into your body EVERY DAY is to start the day off with a green shake! You might be the type, like my dad, that can enjoy ANYTHING and this will actually appeal to you, but if you are like most of us and this does not sound appetizing, you should still do it...here's how.

Put your veggies in a blender, add water (preferably alkaline, or at least pure - maybe distilled) and blend. When I had a $20 blender it used to take 10 minutes to blend our shakes and I needed to add ice in order to keep it from getting warm.

A great base to start with is a huge handful of organic spinach (about 2 cups) 1/2 English cucumber, and 1/2 -1 avocado, 2 teaspoons of sea salt and a clove of garlic with about 24 oz. of water. Make sure your green/spinach is organic. A few years ago after an outbreak (I believe it was e.coli) linked to spinach, the FDA approved irradiation of spinach and lettuce. Organic standards prohibit irradiation, so greens is one area we always make sure we buy organic. As for you cucumbers, make sure they are not GMO crops. The way to tell is with the 4 or 5-digit code on the produce or label above the produce in the store. A 4 digit code starting with 4 is standard farming, not organic or GMO. A 5 digit code starting with a 9 it is organic, you can see this in the organic section, all of the organic fruits and veggies will have their code start with a 9. If it is a 5-digid code starting with an 8, it is GMO. Always double check, we have found GMO produce at Costco, and even one of our local health food stores, Sprouts - had all 3: GMO, non-GMO, and organic, but only the organic is labeled as such. We have also found GMO grapes, and celery. GMO zucchini, papaya, and bell peppers are also very common. Don't skip the avocado, it adds great fats and helps to emulsify the shake for a much smoother drink! The sea salt is important, too for adding mineral salts to the body and keeping our tissues alkaline!

You can add other veggies on hand: parsley is a great to strengthen the urinary system, garlic is a great blood cleaner, tomatoes are very alkalizing, lemon is great for alkalizing and adds a nice tang, jalapeño pepper adds a nice kick and also helps boost circulation, celery is great, bell pepper, zucchini, and/or broccoli are all great to add if you have them on hand!

If you are nothing like my dad, and more like my husband, who actually gags - literally - with a green shake, you should still do it. He has his own system of holding his nose, guzzling the drink in seconds, followed by a chaser, and then needs to smell something as soon as he lets go of his nose. But, he has proven to himself that his health - energy, vitality, joint pain, heartburn, sleep trouble all are improved when he has his daily green shakes. In fact, I am so proud him - he averages 2 a day, breakfast and lunch everyday he insists on a green shake!

CHEERS!

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Alkaline Food Chart!, How-to without Special Equipment, Amazing Coconut Bacon and Kale Chips 3 Ways

11/14/2013

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The first place to start on a journey to vibrant health is with your nourishment! The following is a list of foods in 3 categories according to how healing and energizing they are to the body. You can not over alkalize, and we will learn more about that in another post and the scientific reasons why. For now, try to memorize these food charts so that you can start making the most beneficial decisions when it comes to your daily diet so you can achieve health with every bite! Enjoy!
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Alkaline Food Chart
Alkalizing Foods: Eat Freely: 70-100% of your diet!
Green Veggies! and the following RAW: kale, spinach, lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, radishes, onions, garlic, lemons, limes, cucumbers, coconut, asparagus, fresh herbs such as basil and parsley, eggplant, chives, celery, fennel, sprouts, leeks, avocado, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and grasses. Also, plenty of healthy salts, raw oils and pure alkaline water.
Transitional Food List: Should make up 20-30% of your diet
Whole grains such as quinoa, barley, rice, buckwheat, and spelt, tofu (non-GMO!), fruit, sweet veggies such as carrots, squash, pumpkin, grapefruit, potatoes, peas, most seeds and nuts, and beans/legumes. Oily fish such as wild salmon and tuna.
Acidic Foods: Should never be eaten...yikes!
mushrooms, algae, meat (red, white, or pink, from any animal or bird), dairy products (includes raw, pasteurized, or from any animal), alcohol, yeast of any kind, vinegar, coffee, chocolate, peanuts and peanut oil, corn, canola, non-organic soy, GMO foods, microwaved food, eggs, fermented products, white flour, sugar of any kind, agave, and processed foods

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Even if you don't have special equipment...
~What if I don't have a juicer?
Use a blender and make smoothies instead of juices. Just add a little water. :)
~What if I don't have an expensive high-speed blender?
Use a cheap $20 blender, just blend longer. It might take 10 minutes to get your recipe smooth, but before we were blessed to barter for a Blen-tec, we used an inexpensive blender for years. Tip: add some ice so your smoothie isn't warm. :)
~
What if I don't have a dehydrator?
If you want raw food, this is vital for many recipes. You can get a super cheap dehydrator for less than $50 at many department stores. We are still using an inexpensive one before we can invest in a serious one. Tip: MAKE SURE you can control the temperature so you can keep your drying below 120 degrees! If having the food raw isn't that important or the inexpensive ones are still out of budget for now, use your oven. It won't be raw, but your bacon will still be made of coconut and your chips will still be kale. :)
This Week's Very Amazing Alkaline Recipes:
Coconut Bacon
Kale Chips 3 ways
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Boy It's Hard to Know So Much!

11/3/2013

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So, this is my blog launch. There is so much I want to share but I can get so excited that everything wants to come out at once and I just get stuck. Laying awake in a drowsy state last night as I went back and forth between babies needing me all night long, it came to me, and this is it:
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A  few weeks ago, I learned…
yet another appalling fact (from Tiffany at http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/)…if our spices are not organic, they are just gross. The US FDA has a division called ASTA: The American Spice Trade Association. ASTA regulations allow up to 20% of the spice to be natural defects including rodent hair, poop, insects, and mold.

I actually read one of their documents about paprika – for which they allow 20% to be mold and 11 rodent hairs and 75 insect fragments per 25g! 
 
I don't know about you, but when I sprinkle cinnamon onto my little girl's raw pancakes in the morning, I don't want 20% of the cinnamon to be rat hair, bug legs, mold and poop. 

When you buy organic,
you are only getting the herb or spice on the label, and nothing more. There are a few other reasons too, but for me, this was all I needed. A few days prior I learned from http://wholenewmom.com/, that even raw almonds are processed with engine fuel. I thought that I knew pretty much when it came to organic living. I am often overwhelmed by the challenge of implementing what I know about whole alkaline foods and staying the course. 
 
With knowledge comes responsibility 
and for me this means 100% when it comes to feeding my babies...but this new info...I was sitting in the rocking chair about to nurse my 4 month old when learning just these 2 little facts felt so heavy…I need to make sure all our spices are organic spices (it turns out most of them are) and buy special almonds, too. I leaned back in the chair with a huge sigh and said
  "Boy, it's hard to know so much!" and then I laughed out loud at how silly the statement sounded. 

I look forward to learning more and sharing all I can with you, so that we can strive together on a quest for healthy living. 
 
When feeling overwhelmed 
about all these things everyone around me seems to be oblivious about (GMO's everywhere; New Biology; The Real Scoop on Essential Oils; Herbs vs. Homeopathics; What is really the deal with Rescue Remedy/Bach Flowers???; Why algae, fungus, and probiotics are acidifying to our bodies; Is it true babies need colds to build their immune system - NO!!! and here is why; Why I would leave the country before voluntarily vaccinating my family - against anything... - some of the upcoming blog posts to look for)

I quickly feel great relief
as I look at my amazingly healthy children (my 2 year old has had 1 mild cold her entire life) and prefer the challenge over a family always fighting colds and flu, or worse. I know we are blessed beyond measure…part of that blessing is information, and that is what I want to share with you.



This weeks Recipes:
Macadamia Nut Cheese
Avocado Pesto
Chocolate Decadence Pie
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    Courtney Charles

    My ultimate aim in life is to be a disciple and faithful servant of Jesus Christ.

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