E-news April 17, 2009

	Hello listmates, I hate to send out yucky news but I also believe we need to be informed to make powerful, healthful decisions for our families. On my website I mention many things we need to change. Below are three suggestions and articles supporting them.   ONE: BREASTFEED   Perchlorate chemicals found in baby formula. http://www.naturalnews.com/025997.html     TWO: GET SOME SUN   Link between autism and Vitamin D deficiency. http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/apr2009_The-Link-Between-Autism-and-Low-Levels-of-Vitamin-D_01.htm     THREE: AVOID FLUORIDE   Cancer causing toxins in fluoride http://groups.google.com/group/Fluoridation-News-Releases/browse_thread/thread/621dfc360e77caf6     On a good note the London Autism Rally was a huge success. See the video here. Thank you Joan Campbell for your hard work.   Hope you are all enjoying the fantastic weather. We are in S. Florida and it has been unusually cool for this time of year and I love it. For local folk, I will be at St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Jensen Beach on the 25th of April. They are having their first Earth Day celebration. I will be there along with many other great folks vending. Come on by. I will also be at Nutrition S’mart on the 23rd of May doing a lecture on the benefits of eating gluten free. Stop by and say “hi” Blessings and Happy Spring Dotty Scalco ********************************************************* E.C.H.O. Educating on Children’s Health Options www.TheEchoFoundation.com ECHO the truth. Be a voice for your child

 

 

Posted via email from amyandsimon’s posterous

E-news February 28, 2009

Hello Listmates,

Can you believe it is March already???

Where does the time go?  I am still cleaning up the mess from Christmas!

Last week I had a garage sale and it was wonderful. What a great way to clean up and make a few bucks.

I tend to give away more things than I sell because I believe we should recycle, and reuse. I would rather give it away than throw it away. Also when the sale is over, I pack up the van with what is left and drive over to Good Will.

Ok, I also bring some things back into the house after I realize, “I could use this”

I do less self gratifying shopping too. Sure it feels good to pick up something cute for myself or the house, but now I ask myself,” do I really need this? ” Not only will we save money by shopping smarter but we can help lessen the load of our already overflowing landfills.

So clean house, have a garage sale and shop less. You will find that once your house is cleaner, you won’t mind staying home so much. I used to get out ( and shop) because I hated looking at my mess all the time. Now I can sit back with a good book or cup of tea and not feel so creeped out. Clutter in your home usually equals clutter in your life.

 

Here are some declutter tips:

http://zenhabits.net/2007/01/zen-mind-how-to-declutter/

 

Many of you have heard about the 3 families who recently lost their fight in vaccine court but we rarely hear about the ones who win. The media doesn’t like to upset their sponsors who are mostly pharmaceutical companies. But many do win in court. . Below is an article about a recent WIN, followed by a  US Today ad, sponsored by Generation Rescue, letting it’s readers know about the court decision.

 

 

Another Autism Case Wins in Court:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-david-kirby/vaccine-court-autism-deba_b_169673.html

 

 

USA Today full page ad published on Wednesday, Feb 25th.

http://www.rescuepost.com/files/gr-ad-feb.pdf

 

 

I hate to report these things because truthfully, they make me sick. But we must stay educated and aware!

 

Babies Exposed to Harmful Toxins in Liquid Medicines

 

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/50/28855/babies-exposed-harmful-toxins-liquid-medicines.html

 

I just subscribed to YES magazine and I love it. In this month’s issue there is an article called ‘A World of Grace’  The link below is an excerpt from that article about all the different ways we say Grace in this world. You may enjoy reading it. No matter what our culture or religion, we really all want the same thing.

 

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3296&utm_source=feb09grace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3_Grace

 

 

Adding More Raw Fruits and Vegetables to Your Diet

 

http://www.naturalnews.com/025741.html

 

Can’t get your family to eat the now recommended 7-9 raw fruits and vegetables?

For eight years I have been approached by people trying to get me to buy the perfect vitamin/supplement/ cure all. Although I believe some supplementing is necessary for medicinal reasons I believe we can and should get our nutrients from our food. However, in today’s world, we simply are spending less and less time in the kitchen. We are looking for a fast fix and  many healthy meals take time to prepare; time Americans no longer have. I finally found a product I love and believe in. ( never buy anything without researching it first) It is Juice Plus. This is NOT a vitamin. it is a whole food supplement. JP contains 15 raw fruits, and vegetables plus 2 grains dehydrated and put in capsule or chewable form. It is a great way to get those essential phyto-nutrients that studies prove fight cancer, heart disease, etc. .

Visit my website and read the studies on Juice Plus.

www.EchoJuicePlus.com

If you are interested  in the Children’s Health Study, please email me privately. For each adult order, Juice Plus will provide  a free supply for a child age 6-15. All you need to do is fill out a questionnaire every 6 months on your child’s health.

 

Happy March, Happy Spring Cleaning and Cheers to Good  Health.

Dotty Scalco 

Posted via email from amyandsimon’s posterous

Georgia Parenting Conference (CERP sessions for Healthcare Providers) May 1-2 February 8, 2009

La Leche League of Georgia Annual Conference now registering!!!  $15 off if you register by March 1st!!!

Check it out!  The featured speakers are:

Marian Thompson, co-founder of La Leche League and Another Look

Dr. Bob Sears

Diana West, IBCLC

Lysa Parker, co-founder of Attachment Parenting Intenational

 

SEE YOU THERE!!!

How can we afford to live this way? August 6, 2008

When we moved back to our second home in 2001 we took this healthy, natural lifestyle that we wanted to live by the reins and ran with it.  One of the major reasons we could afford to do it, on one income and pregnant with #3, was by joining co-ops and wholesale clubs. 

We joined a produce co-op ran out of the home of a friend.  We still do this today.  Every week we go and pick out what organic produce we want for the week.  In the beginning of this co-op we would get a box of produce, with no selection really.  This is when the Joy of Cooking became our best friend.  Amy remembers looking in the vegetable section trying to figure out what vegetable it was and how to prepare it.

We joined a grocery co-op so we could get those gluten-free, dairy-free groceries that are so readily available today.  In addition we were able to get those organic varieties of things that are just way too expensive anywhere else.  You can order things by the case or split them up with a friend or two.  When ordering from a co-op it is important to learn to buy what is on sale in bulk, so you don’t have to buy it again until it is on sale again.  You basically learn how to stock a store.  Eventually we started our own co-op with our friends and began to compile a split list so we could try a large variety of things and get things that came in huge quantities, the more you buy the cheaper the price usually.

We also found some great products that are unfortunately MLM’s (could be good and bad I suppose).  So we signed up for them just so we could buy them at wholesale prices.  Look for links to Body Balance, a liquid vitamin drink that is actually absorbed by the body; Young Living Essential Oils, these are medicinal oils used instead of conventional medicines; Xocai, a company that uses only the inside of the cacao plant and a cold-process method to make yummy chocolate treats that are caffeine-free and have more antioxidants then any other food. 

We joined a natural vitamins, household products and spices co-op so we could get wholesale prices on vitamins, soaps, shampoos, spices, etc.  This is the Frontier Co-op; look for the link.  Not only do they have their own products, they carry products from other companies too.  They are continually adding new stuff.  If you can make a $250 order with some friends, then they ship it all to you free as well. Another great resource for the vitamins is Vitacost.com.  We will try to add a link on the advertisers page soon, but they sometimes beat the wholesale prices that Frontier has.  Shop around, we will add a few healthy stores that we have used and found so you can see who has the best price for what and don’t forget shipping charges, they change everything.  It is best to go in with a friend or two to save on shipping.

We had a friend doing all of this with us and fortunately for us, she had a tax-ID# that allowed her to get products from companies that only sell to other companies.  This is how we get Biokleen, Garden of Life, Aubrey Organics, and other great products.  

We have been blessed to know this person, Toni.  She still does all of this today and we are not the only lucky ones who get the benefits, if you are in the Southern Atlanta area you are welcome to join her yahoo group naturallyyoursco-op to find out about all the products she has to offer from a large range of co-ops, MLM’s, and companies that only sell to other companies.  She also sends out healthy information and people do get together to split large items like grass-fed cows.

There are ways to do it and afford it.  Here we are expecting our sixth child and still living on one income.  We may not have nice new furniture and beautiful accessories all over the house.  But we have each other and the things that are necessary and important for our healthy, natural lifestyle.  So join some co-op’s or make your own, find some wholesale clubs, and shop around.  It is possible to eat healthy on most budgets. Sometimes you may have to do without some luxuries, but you will soon find that they were luxuries that didn’t matter or even made your life less healthy so you didn’t need them to begin with.  Good luck, you can do it too! 

How did we come to question “authority”? July 29, 2008

I’ll answer this one alone I think.  For me, Amy, I would have to answer SUPPORT, SUPPORT, and SUPPORT.  I didn’t realize how important a good support system was until I began to build one.  My first support came from a required class that Simon and I had to take for marriage preparation back in 1995.  It was a Natural Family Planning (NFP) class taught by Couple to Couple League International.  In the class we learned about NFP, a natural birth control method this is just as effective, if not more then the conventional methods and has no side effects.  We also learned about ecological breastfeeding, which is feeding on demand with no supplements or pacifiers and as long as is desired by both mother and child and the importance of natural birth.  In the class we needed to put what we learned into practice (obviously not the part with the babies) over a few months.  It was our first taste of doing things the natural way and it made sense to us.  Well, with this class there comes a bimonthly newsletter (now it’s a magazine) that gives recent information, examples of NFP situations, a section for those who have children and lots of articles from just everyday people who write in with their experiences.

This is where I first had my support from when starting a family. Simon used to have a job where he traveled pretty much 100% of the time, so he would be home a few weekends of the year, not including vacation time.  So after our first child arrived in 1997 all I had for support was this little newsletter and my own instincts. (My mother had passed away before Simon and I met in college and my siblings are all older then me and we all love each other, but keep to our selves for the most part.)  Now I don’t think I would have listened to these instincts had I not taken the NFP course and been exposed to “natural” thinking.  I would read the newsletter from cover to cover as soon as they arrived to keep myself up to date and feel like there were other people in the world that did things this way.

With the help of this support I was able to raise my child by following my instincts mostly, but I was still not questioning “authority”.  I took my son to his scheduled doctor appointments, gave him his vaccinations, believe they knew what they were talking about when it came to medical things (i.e. his eczema).

After having our second child in 1999, Simon decided to switch jobs.  This one didn’t have quite so much travel.  All of a sudden, I had some more support.  My system was growing.  To make the commute easier we decided to move as well.  I had decided that I wanted to attend a La Leche League meeting with my niece who was expecting so she would nurse her baby too.  I wanted her to experience the bond I had with my children.  Well, my niece lost her baby at 11 weeks, but something in me decided I would go to the meeting anyway.

Walking into my first La Leche League meeting was like coming home.  For the first time since becoming a mother I felt as if I belonged somewhere.  I always did things my own way based on what my instincts told me to do, so I was very different from my siblings.  Now I was in a room of mothers doing the same thing. Thus, my support system grew even more.  I became confident in what I was doing (I wasn’t alone anymore) and I learned so much more was out there.  This was all happening the same time my daughter was suffering with her weight gain.  Now I had the confidence to trust myself because I wasn’t alone anymore.  I knew in my gut it wasn’t right what they were saying.  I was a good parent and I could figure out what was going on with my daughter.