Super Healthy Kids: Strengthening Your Child’s Resistance to Disease

Super Healthy Kids: Strengthening Your Child’s Resistance to Disease By Jane Sheppard Cover Design by Gavio

Copyright © 2002, 2004 Jane Sheppard. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2002, second printing in 2004 Published by Future Generations 1275 Fourth Street, #118 Santa Rosa, CA 95404 707-570-0408 E-mail: sheppard@healthychild.com http://www.healthychild.com The information contained in this booklet is provided for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose any illness, prescribe, or treat any health problems. The contents of this document should not be construed as medical advice or as a substitute for consulting with a qualified health professional.

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This book is dedicated with love to JennaSheppard, a super healthy kid, my greatest teacher and my inspiration, and to futuregenerations of super healthy kids.

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Acknowledgements I wish to thank Rob Harris for his support andassistance during the writing of this book and forhis ongoing support and technical assistance with www.healthychild.com. I extend my deepest gratitude to the manywriters, teachers, practitioners, healers, and edu-cators who are passionately working to bringabout a major transformation in the way childrenare treated and cared for in this society. I am alsoin deep gratitude to the children who have cometo teach us how to live and love.

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Table of Contents Introduction……………..........………………….…..1 Survival Depends on the Immune System.......…...6 A Shift in Our Approach to Health………………..8 Antibiotics Weaken Immunity…………….....…...11 Vaccines Do Not Create Immunity…..…..............19 The Amazing Immunology of Breastmilk…....…26 Nutrition for Healthy Immunity………...........….37 Natural Supplements for Superimmunity…...…58 Immunity-Strengthening Herbs……………........67

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Table of Contents (continued) Healthy Thoughts and Feelings Create Healthy Immunity…………………............…...…...80 Allergies…………………...…….………….…...…...85 Our Children’s Toxic Environment…............….....88 Chronic Immune Dysfunction……….......…...…...93 Integrating Healthy Immunity-Building Into Your Family’s Lifestyle……………........….....96 Checklist for Building Healthy Immunity…........101 Works Cited….………………………….......……..105 Resources……………………….……............….....112

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Introduction The only true way to prevent disease is to have ahealthy body with a strong natural defensesystem. We have all been blessed with animmune system that, when functioning properly,defends our bodies against pathogens such asbacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, and other toxins. This system of immunity consists of manydifferent complex processes that work together tokeep us healthy. It is virtually impossible to germ-proof yourchildren. Unless you keep them in a plasticbubble, they are going to be exposed to germs on a daily basis. This is not necessarily unfavorablebecause exposure to viruses and other germs canactually strengthen a child’s immune system. Germs are abundant everywhere, especially insituations such as daycare or school, but exposuredoes not mean a child will get sick. Many peopletalk about a cold or a flu “going around” as if itwere making the rounds infecting every child inits path. The reality is that out of all the childrenexposed to the virus, only a portion of thesechildren will get sick to some degree, and otherswill not succumb to the disease at all.

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It is the strength of the immune system and overall health of the body and mind that deter-mines illness, not the strength of the germs. A child with a weakened immune system will be vulnerable to colds, flu, and more serious ill-nesses. The immune system is working all of the time. It continually strives to overcome the many path-ogens that try to enter the body, usually without expressing any symptoms of disease. When your child’s body is exposed to a pathogen, an immune response occurs. This is a cooperative effort by the different components of the immune system to restore balance and health. The body needs a lot of resources for mounting and sustaining this response. If it has not had enough good nutrition, sleep, love, and other important substances, the response will be weakened enough to let the pathogen take hold and result in disease. Even healthy kids get sick sometimes, but a healthy body can recover quickly without any complications. The goal is not to prevent all childhood diseases, but rather to decrease the number and severity of the diseases.

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Acquiring innocuous childhood diseases can helpto build immunity and give your child lifetimeprotection against these diseases. Lifetime immu-nity is important since these diseases can haveserious negative effects if acquired as an adult.Philip Incao, M.D. warns parents that standardchildhood illnesses, such as chicken pox, measles,mumps, and even whooping cough, may be ofkey benefit to a child’s developing immunesystem, and it may be inadvisable to suppressthese illnesses with vaccinations (Incao 2000,2001). When your child does get sick, you can help thebody resolve the illness by boosting its ability tohandle and expel the disease rather than sup-pressing the symptoms with toxic drugs. Whenyou build up the immune system through naturalwhole foods, herbs, and other methods wediscuss in this book, the body will move into amore vitalized state of health. Is it possible for a child to have an immunesystem so strong that he or she rarely gets sick? Achild who sails through childhood without everhaving an ear infection, only a few minor colds,and no full-blown infections? Absolutely – this describes my 9-year-old daughter and otherexceptionally healthy children. These are childrenwith super strong immunity. 3

My daughter has been exposed to many diseases throughout her nine years of life, including pertussis, chicken pox (5 times), and zillions of colds and other viruses. She regularly comes in contact with kids with runny noses and terrible coughs. But her strong immune system is powerful enough to ward them off. Sometimes she gets a stuffy nose for a day or two, and occasionally a fever for a day, but she will usually go the entire “cold and flu season” without a single infection. What makes my daughter and other children like her have such strong immune systems? Perhaps genetics may have something to do with it. But research is showing us that it has more to do with a healthy environment right from the start. A baby needs to be nourished during the entire pregnancy with organic, whole foods and lots of love and nurturing, then exclusively breastfed and given an ongoing diet of love, attention and healthy food. Particularly important is what is not allowed to enter the baby’s system during and after pregnancy and the first few years of life – environmental toxins, vaccines, and unnecessary antibiotics.

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If your child is overly susceptible to illness, you may want to take steps to enhance his or herimmune system and make it as strong as possible.Prevention is the way to avoid subjecting yourchild to continuing cycles of antibiotics or othermedications. The good news is that there is plenty that you can do to strengthen your child’s immune system andoverall health to defend against disease. Thepowerful tools of prevention include long-term breastfeeding, good nutrition, natural therapies, ahealthy mental attitude and emotional well-being, a nontoxic environment, avoiding unnecessaryantibiotics and vaccines, low stress, and plenty ofrest and exercise. We will discuss each of thesecomponents in detail throughout this book. Rest assured that there is still plenty that you cando to strengthen your child’s immune systemright now, regardless of whether this child wasbreastfed, was vaccinated, how healthy the preg-nancy was, or what the state of the diet is now.There is always something more you can do toimprove your child’s health. It is never too late to begin.

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Survival Depends on the Immune System There are many good reasons to strengthen our children’s immunity and overall health. We can avoid trips to the doctor and keep our children off antibiotics and other pharmaceutical drugs, sav-ing time, money, and stress on ourselves and our kids’ little bodies. We can experience the sheer pleasure of watching our children experience life with exuberance, energy and vitality. Even more critical, we’ve entered into a time in which chronic diseases are increasingly prevalent and serious acute diseases are more difficult to treat. Incidences of allergies and asthma, both signs that the immune system is not functioning properly, are dramatically increasing in children (CDC 2002 and Incao 2001). Due to antibiotic resistance, serious diseases such as bacterial meningitis and pneumonia are be-coming more difficult to treat, making them even more life threatening. New strains of the tuber-culosis bacterium have been found to be resistant to standard antibiotic treatment. The bacterium that causes pertussis (whooping cough) is mu-tating to develop resistance to the vaccine, and current disease strains of pertussis are not in-

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cluded in the pertussis vaccine formulation(Farrel 2000, Mooi 1998). An increased number of children are prone torecurring infections, taking excessive rounds ofantibiotics. Additionally, babies and children areregularly exposed to pesticides that can com-promise their immune systems, increasing theirrisk of disease (NRDC). The threat of bioterrorism may be facing us; athreat that modern medicine is ill equipped todeal with. Having a compromised immune sys-tem will not only put you and your children ingreater jeopardy from a bioterrorist attack, but thevaccines meant to protect against these attacks aredangerous, especially to a weakened immunesystem. Survival depends greatly on the strength andpower of our immune systems – now more than ever before. We need to have strong immunitynow, and we will not get it from vaccines and antibiotics. These toxic drugs will only weakenour defenses more.

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A Shift in Our Approach to Health Many of us are beginning to understand that we can no longer rush our children to the doctor for antibiotics to treat ear infections and other com-mon illnesses. It’s now time to go back to natural medicines that are gentler, without harmful side effects; medicines that work to support the im-mune system rather than overpower it. Modern or allopathic medicine views disease as coming from outside the body. This view says that a virus, bacteria, or parasite invades the body and makes it sick. Medical doctors are trained to diagnose an infection and immediately eradicate it with powerful antibiotics. These drugs kill the bacteria in the body – both good and bad, stop the symptoms so the underlying cause is not ad-dressed, and weaken the body even further in the process. Taking antibiotics may stop the present bacterial infection, but unless the underlying pattern of dysfunction is stopped – in most cases a weak-ened immune system - the infections may recur and come back even stronger than before. When a child has an infection, the immune system works to expel it through natural pro-cesses such as fever, skin rash, diarrhea, runny 8

nose, and coughing. These normal reactions areknown as the acute inflammatory response andare signs that the immune system is workingproperly. In fact, this inflammatory responsehelps to strengthen the immune system andshould not be suppressed (Incao 2001). When drugs such as fever reducers, cough medi-cines, antihistamines, or other medications aregiven to suppress these vital functions, a childmay become worse since the body is not allowedto do what it needs to do to drive the virus out ofthe body. This may be why complications some-times accompany a minor disease such as chickenpox. In order to strengthen our children’s immunesystems so they can be super healthy, we need tolook at disease and healing in a completelydifferent way than we’ve been taught by modern medicine. When we look at disease holistically,we see that the cause of disease lies within thebody, and in most cases the body can heal itself ifgiven the opportunity. We can allow the immuneresponse of fever, runny nose, and coughing tocontinue to do its job of expelling the diseasefrom the body. The body’s innate life force is powerful andintelligent – a lot wiser than manmade drugs. 9

Pharmaceutical drugs can greatly diminish this life force, as can unhealthy food, negative emotions, and toxic chemicals. But if we shift the body into a healthy, vital state through natural methods, the life force is then allowed to do its miraculous work of healing the body and keeping it healthy and whole.

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Antibiotics Weaken Immunity Antibiotics have saved many lives over the past50 years. We are truly fortunate to have themavailable for life-threatening bacterial infections. Unfortunately, for a long time now, doctors havebeen prescribing antibiotics excessively and indis-criminately. The Center for Disease Control estimates that of the 235 million doses ofantibiotics given each year, between 20 and 50percent are unnecessary. These are drugs that canundermine our children’s health and impair theirimmune systems. If you want your children tostay well with strong immunity, keep them off ofantibiotics whenever possible. Antibiotic misuse is most likely to occur inchildren with ear infections (otitis media), thenumber one reason a child is brought to a doctor.Antibiotic therapy is the most common treatmentof ear infections by doctors in the U.S. A report from the Agency for HealthcareResearch and Quality (AHRQ 2000) suggests thatchildren may not always need antibiotics to treatan ear infection. Researchers found that nearlytwo-thirds of children with uncomplicated earinfections recover from pain and fever within 24hours of diagnosis without antibiotic treatment. 11

Over 80% recover fully within 1 to 7 days. Other countries do not always treat ear infections with drugs at the first sign of infection. The norm is to watch and see how the infection progresses over the course of a few days (AHRQ 2000). The purpose of antibiotics is to kill harmful bacteria. Otitis media means middle ear inflam-mation - not necessarily bacterial infection. Many cases are caused by viruses or allergies, parti-cularly to milk and dairy products. Of the cases of otitis media that do not respond to antibiotics, it’s been found that in up to 70 percent of these cases, there are no harmful bacteria (Schmidt 1990, Skoner 1988). In these cases, antibiotics are useless and damaging to the immune system. Antibiotics have been shown to increase the likelihood of repeat ear infections. One reason is when a doctor prescribes antibiotics, the under-lying cause of the ear infection is usually ignored and left untreated. Streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as pneumococcus, is commonly found in the nose and throat. This bacterium is thought to be responsible for many cases of ear infections, which is why antibiotics are prescribed. However, your child can have pneumococcus and not be sick. It usually causes trouble if it gets trapped in 12

the middle ear. Once trapped, the bacteria canreproduce rapidly and become an infection. This scenario could be the result of an allergicreaction to a certain food, which can cause con-gestion as well as significant pressure changesand obstruction to the eustachian tube of the ear. In the case of an allergy induced ear infection,eliminating the allergen from a child’s diet orenvironment will also eliminate the obstruction,allowing the bacterial fluid to drain. Antibioticsmay kill the bacteria and stop the presentinfection, but if an allergic child continues to beexposed to the allergen, repeat ear infections arelikely to occur. A weakened immune system is the underlyingcause of many ear infections. Treating the childwith antibiotics without correcting the cause willlikely create a continuing cycle of repeat earinfections. Many children are dealing with this. Atypical scenario is the child is diagnosed withacute otitis media and antibiotics are prescribed.The symptoms disappear in about a week, butreturn again in the near future since the originalcause was not addressed. The child goes back tothe doctor for more antibiotics. The cyclecontinues. 13

Some children spend months or even years on antibiotics, with recurring ear infections. Research has shown that when antibiotics are used at the beginning of an ear infection, the frequency of recurrence may be almost three times greater than if antibiotics are delayed or not used (Schmidt 1990, Diamant 1974). A truly disturbing practice is the prescribing of antibiotics by some doctors to treat colds, coughs, runny noses or flu. Most upper respiratory infec-tions are viral. Treating them with antibiotics is clear misuse, since the drugs kill only bacteria and are of no value at all in treating viral infections. There are treatments that can relieve the symptoms of a cold, but there is no drug (over-the-counter or prescription) that will cure a cold. There are, however, natural treatments that work very well by strengthening the immune system to effect-ively deal with a cold. Antibiotics do not just go after the pathogenic or “bad” bacteria. They also indiscriminately des-troy the beneficial or “friendly” bacteria that are necessary and vital to good health. Beneficial bacteria exist in the intestines for the purpose of digestion, manufacturing vitamins, 14

and keeping the pathogenic bacteria in check.Among the more important beneficial bacteria are lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacteriumbifidus. They help protect the body against infec-tion. Depleting these organisms can disrupt thebalance of the body and lead to suppressedimmunity, bowel problems, poor digestion, poornutrient absorption, malnutrition, and yeast over-growth diseases such as thrush and vaginitis. In addition to reducing absorption of nutrients,antibiotics can cause important vitamins andminerals to be lost from the body, which canweaken immunity. One of the most common sideeffects of antibiotics is diarrhea. This can cause aloss of nutrients, especially magnesium and zinc.Some children are on antibiotics for months oreven years. Nutritional loss over such a longperiod of time is debilitating for the body and sets up an environment for more infections. Think twice before accepting antibiotics astreatment for acne. Adolescents treated with long-term antibiotics for acne are prone to poor healthduring the treatment and later in their teens and20s. Common health problems from long-term antibiotics include gastrointestinal problems,fatigue, itching, allergies, chronic congestion,bloated abdomen, poor mental concentration and

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memory, chronic vaginal yeast infections and bladder infections. A very frightening consequence of indiscriminate use of antibiotics is the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These bacteria have “learned” to outsmart the drugs and have reproduced a generation of stronger, more resistant bugs. Consequently, there are some serious infectious diseases that are no longer responding to antibiotics. If an infection does respond, it often requires much more of the drug that used to be effective. In the event of a serious bacterial infection, such as meningitis, a much higher dosage of antibiotic may be required or a doctor may have to try different drugs before finding one that will work. The time this takes can potentially be a matter of life or death, since meningitis can be fatal and needs to be treated immediately. Eating commercially raised meat can increase the risk of drug-resistant infections. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are commonly found in meat since antibiotics are routinely given to chickens, pigs and cattle to prevent illness and to promote growth. Resistant strains of salmonella are common in ground meats (White 2001). After eating meat, drug-resistant bacteria can survive in 16

the human intestine for up to 14 days, where theycould multiply and potentially cause drug-resistant infections (Sorensen 2001). What else is your child ingesting with theantibiotic? Sweeteners, dyes, flavorings, and otherunnamed additives are found in antibioticsprescribed to children. These may include sac-charin, sucrose, red dye #40, FD & C yellow #5and #6. These dyes are cross-reactive with aspirin and acetaminophen, which are commonly givento a child during an illness (Schmidt 1994). Even tiny amounts of the chemical additives inantibiotics can cause an allergic reaction in asensitive child. It’s important to always get a full disclosure of the contents of the drug beingconsidered if your child has allergies or environ-mental sensitivity. Ask the pharmacist for theinsert that comes with the medication. Antibiotics may be absolutely necessary in certainsituations, such as a life-threatening infection orwhen serious complications are present. We arevery fortunate to have antibiotics for appropriatesituations. However, if you ever do have to useantibiotics, they should be used in conjunctionwith methods that strengthen the immunesystem, and the depleted beneficial bacteriashould always be replaced. Most importantly, the 17

cause of the infection needs to be addressed for true healing to take place.

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Vaccines Do Not Create Immunity Increasing evidence suggests that injecting a childwith nearly three-dozen doses of 10 different viraland bacterial vaccines before the age of five, whilethe immune system is still developing, can causechronic immune dysfunction (Neustaedter 1996,Classen 2000, Scheibner 1993, Murphy 1993, Miller 1994). Vaccines may trigger antibodyproduction to a specific disease, but they do notincrease genuine immunity; nor do they createhealthier children. Many doctors now believe that creating a strongimmune system to prevent both chronic and acute diseases is much wiser than trying to manipulatethe immune system to prevent certain acutediseases. The constant stress on the immunesystem from manipulating it with so manyvaccines could result in immune system damageand chronic diseases. The toxins contained in vac-cines are also linked to nervous system and braindamage, including ADD and autism.

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The following is an excerpt from Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective?, by Neil Miller explaining how vaccines may overwhelm and weaken the immune system:

Several researchers have noted that vaccines merely “trick” the body into focusing on only one aspect (antibody production) of the many complex and integrated strategies normally available to the immune system. Diseases contracted nature-ally are ordinarily filtered through a series of immune system defenses. But when the vaccine virus is in-jected directly into the child’s blood stream, it gains access to all of the major tissues and organs of the body, without the body’s normal advantage of a total immune response. Research indicates that the imma-ture immune system of a baby is stimulated, strengthened, and ma-tured by responding to natural challenges. When the infant gains exposure to viral and bacterial microorganisms in the environment, normal development of the immune system is likely to occur. However,

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if the immature immune system is forced to respond to a barrage of vaccinations injected directly into the body, bypassing outer immune system defenses, inner immune system protective maneuvers may be overwhelmed. When natural im-munity is curtailed and the immune system compelled to operate in un-natural ways, questions arise re-garding its ability to protect the child throughout life (Miller 1994).

While investigating vaccines for the past tenyears, I have seen and heard countless reportsfrom parents that express unequivocally howincredibly strong their unvaccinated children’simmune systems are. My own unvaccinateddaughter is remarkably healthy. She’s beenimmunized with four years of breastmilk, anorganic whole foods diet, and plenty of love andattention. She has never needed an antibiotic, andI know her immune system is strong enough todeal with the diseases that kids are vaccinatedagainst. If she does get an infection, I am confident her strong immune system will respondquickly to treatment The statement frequently heard from vaccineproponents, that “the benefits of vaccination 21

outweigh the risks”, is misleading since the true risks of vaccination are unknown. In 1991 and 1994, two committees were set up by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) to assess the causal relationship between vaccines and adverse health consequences. According to the Academy, “These committees concluded that the evidence was inadequate to accept or reject a causal relation between a specific vaccine and an adverse effect approximately two-thirds of the time” (NAS 2002). Yet, when parents voice concerns about adverse effects they are told that no causal link has been found and that vaccines are safe. How can they say vaccines are safe when there is simply not enough evidence to make such a conclusion? A report issued in 2002 by the IOM’s Immunization Safety Review Committee calls for more scientific research into the development of the human immune system and identification of genetic and other biomarkers that could pre-dispose some children to vaccine-based adverse events, including autoimmunity. This report found that scientific evidence on whether allergy, including asthma, can be caused by multiple vaccinations was conflicting and concluded that the evidence “was inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship.” (NAS 2002) 22

The Committee also concluded that epidemi-ological studies to date “favor rejection of a causalrelationship between multiple immunizationsand increased risk for infections and for type 1diabetes.” But “favoring rejection” does not meanthe causal relationship between vaccines andincreased risk of infections or diabetes has beenruled out or disproved. The Committee also concluded that they did findsome biological mechanism evidence thatvaccines could increase the risk of immunedysfunction in some children that could lead toincreased infections and allergy, includingasthma. The report stated, “The biologicalmechanisms evidence regarding increased risk forinfections is strong.” Yet, press releases wereissued from the National Academy of Scienceswith the headlines “Infant Immunizations NotShown to Be Harmful to Children’s Immune Systems” and “Vaccines Don’t Harm InfantImmune Systems”. This type of public relations is misleading toparents. The truth is that a lot more research stillneeds to be done. The IOM committee made theirconclusions not from independent new research, but from a literature review of past studiesfunded by vaccine manufacturers or done bygovernment groups with financial links to the 23

vaccine manufacturers and a huge stake in the results. A major flaw in some of these studies was that they looked at children who have received a lot of vaccines and then compared them with children receiving one more vaccine than the “control” group. This tells us nothing. For a true scientific picture, what they need to be looking at is overall incidence of immune dysfunction between fully vaccinated children and children who receive few or no vaccines. No such study has ever been done. Another important flaw of this report is that researchers who have identified links between autoimmune conditions and vaccines were not allowed to present their findings and research to the committee. As Dawn Richardson, president of Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education (PROVE) stated, “The old expression “garbage in garbage out” definitely applies here.” Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, called the report “an important step in acknowledging the very real basic science research needs of our nation’s mass vaccination system. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the growing minority of children who, for biological reasons, are not able to handle 24

the increasing numbers of vaccinations routinelybeing given to all children.” Parents questioning the safety of vaccines wantgood independent scientific research into thisquestion and are frustrated with the spin controlthat the public health community continues toput out to the public. The issue of vaccines can bea complicated one for parents. A lot of conflictinginformation is supplied, making it difficult toknow just what to trust. Most pediatricians stick to what they learned in medical school (a narrowview) and are not fully informed about all theaspects and dangers of vaccines. Many resources are provided at the end of thisbook so you can do your own research and makeinformed decisions for your children.

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The Amazing Immunology of Breastmilk Breastfeeding for as long as possible is the most important thing you can do to ensure your child has a strong immune system. Breastmilk is much more than food. In addition to providing the absolute best nutrition for a growing baby, breastmilk supplies the factors needed to develop strong immunity and protect your baby against disease. Although they have some antibodies from the placenta of their mother, newborns enter the world largely unprotected. With immature im-mune systems, they are faced with organisms they have never met before and are at risk for infections. Exclusive breastfeeding can greatly lower this risk. Breastfeeding has been shown to be protective against many illnesses, including ear infections, upper and lower respiratory ailments, allergies, intestinal disorders, colds, viruses, staph, strep and e coli infections, diabetes, juvenile rheu-matoid arthritis, many childhood cancers, meningitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, salmonella, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) as well as lifetime protection from crohn’s

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disease, ulcerative colitis, some lymphomas,insulin dependent diabetes, and for girls, breastand ovarian cancer (La Leche League). Breastmilk contains lymphocytes and macro-phages, which produce antibodies and otherimmune factors. It provides lactobacillus bifidus,the “friendly” bacteria that help prevent thegrowth of dangerous bacteria. Another moleculein breastmilk actually kills harmful bacteria. Some components are even directly anti-inflammatory(Hanson, 1998). In addition to providing protec-tion against pathogenic bacteria, breastmilkcontains elements that guard against viruses,fungi and parasites. The positive effects of breastmilk on the immune system are long-term. Evidence shows thatenhanced immune protection remains for yearsafter breastfeeding is discontinued (Hanson 1998).The immunology of breastmilk is quite amazing.Mother Nature definitely knows what she isdoing! When your baby is sick, it makes sense to nursehim or her more frequently. In addition toproviding antibodies and other immune factors,breastmilk is a nourishing calorie-rich fluid, which keeps a baby well hydrated. My daughterintuitively knew to nurse more frequently when 27

she was fighting something off. This frequent nursing managed to keep whatever was trying to invade her body from developing into an actual infection or disease. It’s baffling that some health professionals still believe that there is no benefit from breastmilk to babies after they are a year old. Long-term breastfeeding and natural weaning (letting your child decide when to wean) is by far the healthiest thing you can do. Immune protection continues to improve throughout the duration of breast-feeding (Hanson 1998). The longer you breast-feed, the stronger your child’s immune system becomes. Breastfeeding also adds the loving touch and comfort that is crucial to the emotional well-being of your baby, toddler and preschooler, thus strengthening immunity on another level. Continuing to breastfeed into the preschool years does not make a child dependent on the mother. My daughter decided on her own to quit nursing at age four. This was a gentle, easy transition for her. She is a strong, independent child because she knows she can always get her needs met.

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What is Colostrum? From LaLeche League www.lalecheleague.org Colostrum is the first milk your breasts producein the early days of breastfeeding. Highly concen-trated in nutrients, it contains substances that will defend your baby against many harmful agents.The concentration of immune factors is muchhigher in colostrum than in mature milk. Colostrum actually works as a natural and 100%safe vaccine. It contains large quantities of anantibody called secretory immunoglobulin A(IgA), which is a new substance to the newborn.Before your baby was born, she received thebenefit of another antibody, called IgG, throughyour placenta. IgG worked through the baby’scirculatory system, but IgA protects the baby in the places most likely to come under attack fromgerms, namely the mucous membranes in thethroat, lungs, and intestines. Colostrum has an especially important role toplay in the baby’s gastrointestinal tract. Anewborn’s intestines are very permeable. Colo-strum seals the holes by “painting” the gastro-intestinal tract with a barrier, which mostlyprevents foreign substances from penetrating and

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possibly sensitizing a baby to foods the mother has eaten. Colostrum also contains high concentrations of leukocytes, protective white cells, which can destroy disease-causing bacteria and viruses. Later, when you are producing mature milk for your baby, the concentrations of the antibodies in the milk will be lower, but your baby will be taking in much higher volumes of milk. The disease-fighting properties of human milk do not disappear with the colostrum. In fact, as long as your baby receives your milk, she will receive immunological protection against many different viruses and bacteria. Immunological Protection Reprinted with permission Kathryn Orlinsky, 1999 http://www.kjsl.com/~boynews/ImmunologicalProtection.html The immunological properties of human milk may be as important as the nutritional aspects of human milk. How do we know that human milk really does make a difference in preventing dis-ease? Many studies show that children who are fed human milk substitutes end up sick or hospitalized at a much greater rate than children 30

who breastfeed. For example, diarrhea wassignificantly reduced in infants fed human milkcompared with bottle-fed and weaned children(9, 19, 20). Most bacterial infections are caused byorganisms that are already colonizing the host, usually in the gastrointestinal or respiratorytracts. Human milk may prevent the growth ofthese bacteria. There are several ways in which human milkprotects children from infection. Human milkcontains antibodies (immunoglobulins) which canhelp ward off disease in the infant. Human milkis particularly high in immunoglobulin A (IgA);(10) there is more IgA in human milk than inserum (6). IgA binds to viruses and bacteria, par-ticularly those that enter through the gut andother mucus membranes. This is especially pro-tective of infants, who are always putting thingsin their mouths. In addition to antibodies, human milk alsocontains lysozyme and lactoferrin, two anti-bac-terial enzymes which protect against a host ofinfectious agents, including E. coli and Staphy-lococcus (3). Human milk also contains whole immune cellscalled white blood cells. Many of these cells arephagocytes, so called because they engulf bacteria 31

and viruses, especially if these germs have IgA attached to them. Other immune cells in human milk include B cells, which make antibodies, and T cells, which attack diseased cells (17). How can these antibodies and other proteins help the infant if they are swallowed and digested along with the nutritional components of human milk? It turns out that these immune factors are resistant to proteolysis in the infant’s gut (7, 8). Ninety percent of the IgA in human milk exists in a complex with secretory component (SIgA) (10). SIgA is resistant to trypsin digestion in the neo-natal gut (22). Another way human milk protects children from disease is by favoring the growth of beneficial microorganisms. These benign colonizations pre-vent dangerous infections from taking hold. For example, bifidobacteria are more numerous in breastfed infants than in those fed with human milk substitutes (1, 3). This may be because of nucle-otide salts present only in human milk, however, when these nucleotide salts were added to the human milk substitutes, the growth of bifido-bacteria was still discouraged (1). Breast-feeding may also favor the proliferation of bacteria with decreased virulence (15, 21). These strains may be more sensitive to bactericidal

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agents in serum, more prone to agglutinization,or less able to attach to epithelial surfaces (14). Human milk does not contain the sameproportion of immune cells and antibodies thatare found in the mother’s blood, nor does itcontain a stationary amount of these protectiveagents (4). Human milk contains much more IgAand less immunoglobulin M than serum does (6).In addition, the type of T cells predominantlyfound in human milk is different from thepredominant type of T cell found in serum (17).This is because the mammary glands themselvescontain lymphoid cells which produce the IgAantibodies needed by the breastfeeding child (10,13, 18). This mechanism is functional throughoutlactation. In addition to providing protectionfrom specific germs in the infant, the productionand secretion of these immunological factors bythe mother’s mammary gland may be linked to the development of the child’s own immunesystem (4). Skeptics have said, “yes, human milk benefitsinfants, but older children cannot continue toreceive immunity by breastfeeding, can they?”The answer to this question is a resounding yes. Children enjoy health benefits for as long as theybreastfeed. Studies have compared weaned child-ren with breastfeeding children at 30 months (16) 33

and at 36 months, (20, 23) and found them to be sicker. In some parts of the world, weaned toddlers have a mortality rate three and a half times higher than toddlers who receive human milk (20). Weaning foods and even water from some regions are highly contaminated with E. coli, (2) but even undernourished mothers from these regions produce ample milk antibodies (5). There are at least two reasons why breastfeeding continues to benefit older children. First, human milk contains immune factors regardless of the duration of lactation. Both lysozyme and SIgA levels have been found in human milk for the entire period of lactation studied, including the second year (10, 12, 13). Many of these immune factors would be otherwise unavailable (13). Second, human milk is more easily tolerated by a sick child than weaning foods. Thus, breastfeed-ing ensures that sick children remain hydrated and do not lose excessive weight. There are special cases where human milk is particularly high in immune factors. Colostrum is exceptionally rich in immune factors, containing more white blood cells per unit volume than blood (17). Preterm milk also contains more immune factors than term milk, both in colostrum and mature milk (11). Newborns and premature infants need immunological protection more than 34

toddlers, and they get that increased protection inthe human milk they consume. This does not preclude older children from benefiting immuno-logically from continuing to breastfeed.

1. Balmer SE, Hanvey LS and BA Wharton. 1994.Arch. Dis. Child Fetal. Neonatal Ed. Mar.70(2):F137-F140.

2. Black RE, Brown KH, Becker S, Alim AR and MHMerson. 1982. Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg.76(2):259-264.

3. Braun OH. 1976. Klin. Padiatr. Jul;188(4):297-310. 4. Butte NF, Goldblum RM, Fehl LM, Loftin K, Smith

EO, Garza C and AS Goldman. 1984. Acta. Paediatr.Scand. May;73(3):296-301.

5. Carlsson B, Ahlstedt S, Hanson LA, Lidin-Janson G, Lindblad BS and R Sultana 1976. Acta. Paediatr.Scand. Jul;65(4):417-423.

6. Carlsson B, Gothefors L, Ahlstedt S, Hanson LAand J Winberg. 1976. Acta. Paediatr. Scand.Mar;65(2):216-24.

7. Davidson LA and B Lonnerdal. 1987. Acta.Paediatr. Scand. 76:733-740.

8. Fubara ES and R Freter. 1973. J. Immunol. 111:395. 9. Giugliano LG, Meyer CJ, Arantes LC, Ribeiro ST

and R Giugliano. 1993. J. Trop. Pediatr.Jun;39(3):183-187.

10. Goldman AS, Garza C, Nichols BL and RMGoldblum. 1982. J. Pediatr. Apr;100(4):563-7.

11. Goldman AS, Garza C, Nichols B, Johnson CA,Smith EO and RM Goldblum. 1982. J. Pediatr.Dec;101(6):901-5.

12. Goldman AS, Goldblum RM and C Garza. 1983.Acta. Paediatr. Scand. 72:461-462.

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13. Goldman AS, Goldblum RM, Garza C, Nichols BL and EO Smith. 1983. Acta. Paediatr. Scand. 72:133-134.

14. Gothefors L, Olling S and J Winberg. 1975. Acta. Paediatr. Scand. Nov;64(6):807-812.

15. Gothefors L, Olling S and J Winberg. 1976. Acta. Paediatr. Scand. 64:807.

16. Gulick EE. 1986. Pediatr. Nurs. Jan-Feb;12(1):51-4. The effects of breast-feeding on toddler health.

17. Lindstrand A, Smedman L, Gunnlaugsson G and M Troye-Blomberg. 1997. Acta. Paediatr. Aug;86(8):890-891.

18. Lodinova R and V Jouja. 1977. Acta. Paediatr. Scand. Nov;66(6):705-708.

19. Mahalanabis D, Alam AN, Rahman N and A Hasnat. 1991. Int. J. Epidemiol. Dec;20(4):1064-1072.

20. Molbak K, Gottschau A, Aaby P, Hojlyng N, Ingholt L and AP da Silva. 1994. BMJ. May 28;308(6941):1403-6.

21. Orskov F and KB Sorenson. 1975. Acta. Pathol. Microbiol. Scand. [B] Feb;83(1):25-30.

22. Parkin DM, MacClouland DBL, Samson RR, McA Less, M and DJC Shearman. 1973. Europ. J Clin Invest. 3:66.

23. van den Bogaard C, van den Hoogen HJ, Huygen FJ and C van Weel. 1991. Fam. Med. Sep-Oct;23(7):510-5.

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Nutrition for Healthy Immunity Optimal nutrition is essential to building andmaintaining a healthy immune system. To main-tain a powerful immune system, you must supplyyour child’s body with the highest quality foodsources of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, aminoacids, and other nutrients. We’re told that we need to give our children a“balanced diet”. Unfortunately, in this age ofover-processed, manufactured foods, a typicalbalanced diet is not sufficient. In fact, some foodsthat have long been considered an essential partof a balanced diet – milk, meat and grains – are so processed and denatured that they can weakenimmunity. Most of our food supply is artificiallymanipulated and processed with many ingre-dients and additives that contribute to poorhealth. Processed foods, sugar, and soda canweaken the immune system. These “foods” addnothing in the way of nutrition, and if yourchildren fill up on a lot of them, they are notlikely to eat enough healthy foods with essentialnutrients. You just can’t build healthy immunecells from cookies, soda, ice cream, hot dogs,macaroni and cheese, and white bread. 37

No matter how many herbs and supplements you give your child, if they are eating a substantial amount of sugar and processed foods, their health will be diminished. You must significantly reduce these foods from your child’s diet, and save them only for occasional treats. Whole foods nourish and cleanse the body while activating and supporting the immune system. Whole foods are fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains. This is the food your child needs in order to be healthy. It is important to buy organic foods as often as possible since conventionally grown foods contain pesticides that can damage the immune and nervous systems and are not as nutritious as foods grown organically in mineral-rich soils. Switching from processed food to fresh, whole, organic food is not an easy thing to do in this society, particularly if you live in an area without natural food stores and farmers markets. The food industry spends tons of money marketing highly processed, appealing junk foods in fancy wrappers to your children. Many of the other kids at school are drinking soda, eating fast foods and sugary, processed junk, and your children will not want to miss out. That’s why it’s important to begin teaching them at an early age what these foods do to their bodies. 38

Following an organic, whole foods diet can bedifficult, but it’s much easier than dealing withchronic ear infections and sickly kids. Fortun-ately, your children don’t have to give up all theirfavorite foods in order to be healthy. Some of thefoods children love can be OK if they are notoverly processed. For instance, pizza made withorganic raw cheese and fresh tomatoes withroasted vegetable toppings on whole-wheat crustcan be a good treat. But some pizza is made withimitation cheese that is partially hydrogenatedvegetable oil flavored to taste like cheese. Andimitation tomato sauce is nothing but artificiallycolored, tomato-flavored chemicals. Is that what we want in our children’s bodies? Sugar – The Immunity Destroyer Sugar has been shown in studies to suppress theimmune system and contribute to a weakeneddefense against infections (Sanchez, 1973, Rinsdor1976). Ray Wunderlich, M.D. tells us in his book, Natural Alternatives to Antibiotics, “Excess sugars paralyze the microbe-fighting white blood cellsand tend to produce candy catarrh”. Candycatarrh is a term used to describe the excessmucous (stuffed up or runny noses) manychildren produce after eating a lot of candy.

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Wunderlich says that in order to maintain healthy immunity, we need to avoid sugar and eat a diet high in alkalinizing foods – most fruits and vegetables (Wunderlich, 1995). In addition, sugar robs the body of essential nutrients. As Nancy Appleton writes in Lick the Sugar Habit, “Refined sugar, as tempting as it may be in all those cakes, candies, and cups of coffee, is, in fact, more of a pharmaceutical drug than it is a nurturing food. The minerals needed to digest sugar - chromium, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, and magnesium - have been stripped from the sugar during the refining process. This, in turn, forces the body to deplete its own mineral reserves to process the sugar.” (Appleton 1997) Interestingly, in 1951, Benjamin Sandler, M.D. found that low blood sugar causes susceptibility to infections. Low blood sugar can be brought on by a diet containing a lot of sugar and starch. Dr. Sandler’s simple formula for preventing polio was to eliminate sugar from the diet and reduce the consumption of foods containing starch (Sandler 1951). Sugar provides children with no nutritional benefits. When much of their diet is made up of sugar, they are not getting the good foods they need for energy and a healthy immune system. 40

Milk and Dairy Products Denatured Foods The highly processed milk and dairy productsthat we get today are not immune-building foods.The pasteurization of milk destroys enzymes,diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragilemilk proteins, alters vitamin B12 and vitamin B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens, andis associated with allergies, increased tooth decay,colic in infants, growth problems in children,osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease andcancer. Calves fed pasteurized milk die beforematurity (Weston A. Price Foundation). In addition, recombinant bovine growth hormone(rBGH) is a genetically engineered hormone thatis injected into commercial dairy cows to boostmilk production. Many health problems are asso-ciated with rBGH, including an increased risk ofudder infections in cows so more antibiotics areused to treat the cows. This means higher antibi-otic residues in milk, which could lead to theevolution of drug-resistant bacteria in humanbodies. Avoid giving your children pasteurized milk,including low fat, skim, and powdered milk. Soyand rice milks are not healthy alternatives. Rice

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milk is a highly processed, simple carbohydrate drink and should be used sparingly. Soy interferes with calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron absorption (Reddy 2002) and depresses thyroid function (Divi 1997). Many doctors and nutritionists are now advising parents to avoid all soy products for children unless they are fermented. According to the International Foundation for Nutrition and Health (IFNH), “raw butter and kefir (liquid yogurt) are excellent sources of essential nutrients and vitamins. Raw goat and sheep cheeses and milk products are great alternatives because their genetic code and fat content are apparently more similar to those of humans”. They add, though, that we should still be cautious with using too much of these foods. The Weston A. Price Foundation also praises raw butter and kefir. In addition, they have done quite a bit of research into the dangers of pasteurized, homogenized milk, and they promote the use of whole, raw milk from grass-fed cows. The nutritional value of raw milk from grass-fed cows is far different from the commercially processed milk you find in most grocery stores. Milk allergies are very common in children. The symptoms can be subtle in some children. 42

Abdominal pain, bloating, and chronic diarrheaare common signs of an allergy to milk. Diarrheais a big problem since it impairs a child’s ability toabsorb nutrients. Other symptoms of a milkallergy include eczema or other skin rashes,asthma, chronic nasal congestion, fatigue, learn-ing disabilities, recurrent bronchitis, and chronicear infections. If your child experiences any of these symptoms,try eliminating all milk and dairy products from the diet for at least a month. Watch for signs ofimprovement. There has been much success ineliminating asthma, ear infections and eczemaafter discontinuing all dairy products. The Weston A. Price Foundation maintains thatraw milk does not contribute to allergies likepasteurized milk does. One of the studies theycite is an interesting study of children attending aWaldorf school in Stockholm, Sweden who werecompared to children of the same age at twoneighboring schools (Lancet Vol 353, pages 1485-1488). The Waldorf children were found to have lowerrates of allergic diseases. The lower rates wereassociated with these four factors: contraction ofmeasles during childhood; avoidance of vaccina-tions; consumption of lacto-fermented vegetables 43

and consumption of raw milk. When all four factors were present, there were significantly lower rates of allergic disease, particularly asthma and dermatitis (Weston A. Price Foundation 2000). For more information about raw milk, visit www.realmilk.com or contact the Weston A. Price Foundation, located in the resource section.

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Commercial Fruit Juice Commercial fruit juice, which is heavily con-sumed by children, is not a whole food and addslittle nutritional value to the diet. Juicing removesthe fiber, and unless the juice is freshly squeezedand consumed immediately, most of the nutrientsare lost. Without the fruit’s fiber, juice sends arapid burst of fructose (sugar) into the bloodstream. Commercial canned or bottled juices aremostly sugar (even if you buy unsweetened, purejuice) and could contain a lot of pesticides.Drinking a lot of juice can lead to chronic nasalcongestion, blood sugar problems, yeast infec-tions, and throat or ear infections. Antioxidants – Immune Protection Antioxidants are needed by the body to protectthe immune cells. Antioxidants are compounds infoods that prevent or repair cell damage causedby environmental pollution, pesticides, sunlight,and normal body processes. The antioxidantdefense system includes vitamins A, C, and E and the minerals zinc, copper, manganese, sulfur, andselenium. It is best to obtain these vitamins andminerals from food. Many other antioxidantshave been discovered in fruits and vegetables.These fresh whole foods should be a large part of your child’s diet. 45

Best food sources of antioxidants: Vitamin A Vitamin A is found in animal foods such as eggs, liver, fish, and butter. Cod liver oil is an excellent source of vitamin A. The vitamin A that comes from animal foods is ready to be used by the body. Another form of vitamin A, found in carrots, spinach, apricots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, red peppers, cantaloupe, pumpkin, broccoli, and dark green leafy vegetables are the precursor carotenes and carotenoids, which can be con-verted by the body to active vitamin A. Zinc, iron, and vitamin E, as well as fats, are needed for this conversion. On average, one-third of the carotenes in food are converted into vitamin A. Less than one-fourth of the carotenes in carrots and other root vegetables is converted, and about one-half in leafy green vegetables is converted (DeCava 1996). Children convert carotenes to vitamin A very poorly. Any infection or inflammatory condition greatly increases the body’s need for vitamin A, and vitamin A deficiency clearly has profound effects on the immune system (DeCava 1996). A study by 46

the National Institutes of Health discovered that asingle virus infection depletes the vitamin Alevels of healthy children for several months(Campos 1987). Vitamin C Vitamin C is well-known for it’s ability to preventdisease. The best sources of the vitamin C com-plex are rose hips, acerola berries, citrus fruits,tomatoes, strawberries, red peppers, pineapple,guava, black currant, cabbage, turnip greens,broccoli, cantaloupe, kale, papayas, cauliflower,spinach, and cranberries. Vitamin E Food sources of vitamin E are unrefined essentialfatty acid-rich vegetable and seed oils, (expeller-expressed wheat germ oil is an excellent source ofnatural vitamin E), oatmeal and other whole grains, broccoli, sweet potatoes, alfalfa, sunflowerseeds, hazelnuts, almonds, rose hips, lima beans,avocado, liver, egg yolks, and butter. Zinc Studies show that children with recurrentinfections have lower blood levels of zinc andiron (Bondestam 1985, Galland 1988). Zinc is 47

found in wheat germ, crabmeat, oysters, clams, liver, other meats, egg yolks, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, torula and brew-ers yeast, peanuts, and almonds. Liver is a great source of zinc, vitamin A, and other antioxidants as well as iron. One ounce of beef or calf liver provides 10,000 units of vitamin A, 1 mg. of zinc, and 3 mg. of iron. All beef, but liver especially, should come from cattle raised organically and grass-fed, with no feed laced with hormones or antibiotics. Copper, Manganese, Selenium, and Sulfur Copper is obtained from fish, sesame seeds, tofu, and kidney beans. Sources of manganese are brown rice, oatmeal, split peas, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, and blackberries. You’ll find selenium in the vitamin E foods listed above as well as in fish and shellfish. Sulfur is found in fish and other protein-rich foods, including meat and eggs.

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Children Need Fats to be Healthy Pay little attention to the pervasive hype about low-fat diets. Children need fats in their diets tobe healthy. Healthy fats are essential for growthand energy as well as the absorption and meta-bolism of some nutrients. Fats are vitallyimportant to the brain, which is 70 percent fat.They are used for building the membranesaround every cell in the body and also play a rolein the formation of hormones. When you limit your child’s fat intake, you maybe depriving him or her of essential nutrients.Many low-fat diets are low in zinc and vitamin E. Zinc is essential to growth and proper function-ing of the immune system, and vitamin E is animportant antioxidant that can help protectagainst disease. Furthermore, when children areeating a low-fat diet, they typically eat more highsugar and starch carbohydrates, which can lead toblood sugar problems and decreased immunity. The caution here is to make sure your children getthe right fats and not the bad ones. Dietary fatscan either enhance or impair immune function,depending on the type of fat.

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Bad Fats The media has been telling us for years to stay away from saturated (animal) fats. Accordingly, many people have switched to margarine instead of butter. And fast food restaurants are now using vegetable oils instead of beef tallow for deep-frying. These are not healthy practices. Many of the popular vegetable oils used today are hydro-genated or trans fats. Hydrogenated fats, such as margarine, are the prime culprits in heart disease and cancer. Eating a lot of hydrogenated fats can predispose a child to recurrent infections and inflammatory conditions. Hydrogenation is a manufacturing process that converts unsaturated fats into saturated fats to prolong shelf life. Hydrogenation alters any of the good essential fatty acids (EFAs) that the oil may contain and creates artificial fatty acids. It makes perfectly good oils poison to your child’s immune system by interfering with the metabolism of EFAs. Dr. Galland, author of Superimmunity for Kids, states “These artificial fatty acids are not only unnatural and unnecessary, they can have a disastrous effect on your child’s body’s ability to use EFAs.” (Galland 1988) Read the labels of foods you buy in the grocery store. It’s difficult to find anything that does not 50

contain these unhealthy fats. Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are found inmargarine, shortening, commercial baked goods,fried chicken nuggets, fish sticks, french fries,chips, and most processed foods. Good Fats Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are vital to normal immune and nervous system function. They arecalled essential because we need them to behealthy and our bodies cannot make them. Theymust be supplied by the diet. There are numerous health problems associatedwith EFA deficiencies. These include suscep-tibility to infections, arthritis-like conditions, asthma, eczema, hair loss, liver or kidneydegeneration, growth retardation and vision orlearning problems. There are two kinds of EFAs: omega-6 is found inevening primrose oil, borage oil, black currant oil,safflower, sunflower, corn, canola, soybean, andcottonseed oils. The other is omega-3. Flaxseed oiland cod liver oil are rich in omega-3 EFAs. Walnuts also contain significant amounts, as wellas freshly ground wheat germ. Certain fish,including salmon, tuna, mackerel, bluefish, sar-dines and herring, are rich in omega-3 EFAs. 51

A proper balance of omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs is essential. An excess of omega-6 fats (poly-unsaturated, commercial vegetable oils) can create a fatty acid imbalance, contributing to many health problems, including inflammation, depressed immune system function, cancer, heart disease, liver damage, learning disabilities, and weight gain. Most children are deficient in the omega-3 fatty acids, which are more difficult to obtain. Breast-milk contains the perfect balance of essential fatty acids. Providing EFAs to Your Children Your child’s need for EFAs depends on what else he or she is eating. If your child is eating a lot of hydrogenated oils or trans fatty acids (fast foods, commercial cakes, cookies, crackers, chips, and other junk foods) or doesn’t get enough of certain essential vitamins and minerals, her body may not be able to make proper use of the EFAs she is getting. EFAs must be metabolized effectively in order for the body to reap their benefits. Certain co-factor vitamins and minerals must also be present. Vitamins B-6, A, C, E, magnesium, zinc, copper, and selenium must be there to make the metabolism of EFAs possible. 52

Once children are weaned from breastmilk, it’sdifficult to get omega-3 EFA’s into their diet.Because of mercury contamination, childrenshould not eat large fish, particularly tuna.Chickens, eggs, and beef can be sources of omega-3 fats, but only if the animals eat green plants andnot just grains. Look for grassfed beef and cage-free chickens that eat green plants or algae.Otherwise these foods are deficient in EFAs. The best sources of omega-3 fats are cod liver oil (1 tsp per 50 lbs of body weight), fish oil capsules(containing 250 mg of DHA for children over 7years old), and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)supplements derived from algae (Neuromins).(Neustaedter, 2005) Flax seed oil is becoming a popular EFAsupplement recommended for children. How-ever, there may be a problem with obtaining theomega-3 fatty acid DHA from flax seed oil. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is extremely important forbrain development and children must have this intheir diet. Dr. Neustaedter explains this problemin Child Health Guide: Holistic Pediatrics forParents:

Flax seeds contain the omega-3 fatty acid ALA that must be converted to DHA by an enzyme so that the body

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can incorporate it into cells. The problem is that children make this enzyme only in small amounts, if at all. If they do not have the enzyme they will not benefit from the omega-3 fat in flax seeds. Newborns are completely unable to convert ALA to DHA. A study of breast-feeding mothers who took a flaxseed oil supplement had no resulting increase in their own plasma or breast milk levels of DHA, showing that adults do not make this conversion either. (Neustaedter 2005)

Coconut oil is also gaining recognition as a healthy fat. Coconut oil contains lauric acid, which helps prevent infection and aids in the prevention of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. (Neustaedter 2005) Years ago, mothers gave their children a small daily dose of cod liver oil to prevent disease. This was a good immune building practice. Cod liver oil is a good source of omega-3 EFAs with the added benefits of fat-soluble vitamins A and D. Cod liver oil is rich in the fatty acids EPA and DHA, which are very important for the proper function of the brain and nervous system. See 54

additional information about cod liver oil in theNutritional Supplements section of this booklet. When cooking, use cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or butter. Do not use mar-garine. Saturated Fats Both cholesterol and saturated fat are essential tothe development of the brain and nervous system.In fact, human breastmilk contains over 50% of its calories as fat, much of it saturated. Saturated fatsare not harmful, but tremendously healthy if theyare obtained from grass-fed animals. It is important to stay away from commercialmeat – the kind you find in most grocery stores.Healthy meat comes from grass-fed animalsraised humanely on family farms withouthormones and antibiotics. The nutritional value isfar different than the commercial, factory-farmed meat. Feeding large amounts of grain to a farmanimal alters the nutritional value of its meat ordairy products whether the grain is raisedorganically or conventionally (Robinson 2000). Meat from grass-fed animals is lower in total fat andcalories than commercial meat and richer inomega-3 fatty acids (two to six times more) and

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the cancer-fighting fat, CLA. It also has higher levels of a number of antioxidant vitamins. Most, if not all, of the meat, poultry, dairy products, and eggs available in your grocery store come from animals that are raised in large confinement facilities where they are fed grain-based diets and treated with a variety of antibiotics and hormones. Factory farming is the reason why animal products have the reputation of contributing to many diseases. We did not have as much cancer, heart disease, obesity, and other degenerative diseases when all the meat came from grass-fed animals raised without hormones and antibiotics. Moderate amounts of healthy fats in the diet do not cause obesity. The real culprits in obesity and a host of other chronic diseases are refined sugar, white flour products, trans-fatty acids in the form of heated refined vegetable oils, or hydrogenated oils such as margarine and vegetable shortening. Dr. Price (Weston A. Price Foundation) considered butter from grass-fed cows to be the ultimate health food. In addition to saturated fat and cholesterol, butter contains fat-soluble vita-mins in the most absorbable form, factors that help the body absorb and utilize minerals, and a small amount of omega-6 and omega-3 essential 56

fatty acids in the proper balance. Butter alsocontains vitamin A, vitamin E and selenium -important antioxidants for the immune system(Fallon and Enig 1999). The important point hereis to use butter from grass-fed cows. Unfor-tunately, you can’t find this type of butter, nor can you find grass-fed meats in a typical grocerystore (see resources). Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions(Fallon 1999) says, “our choice of fats and oils isone of extreme importance. Most people,especially infants and growing children, benefit from more fat in the diet rather than less. But thefats we eat must be chosen with care. Avoid allprocessed foods containing newfangled hydro-genated fats and polyunsaturated oils. Instead,use traditional vegetable oils like extra virgin olive oil and small amounts of unrefined flax seedoil. Acquaint yourself with the merits of coconutoil for baking and with animal fats for occasionalfrying. Eat egg yolks and other animal fats withthe proteins to which they are attached. And,finally, use as much good quality butter as youlike, with the happy assurance that it is awholesome - indeed, an essential - food for youand your whole family.”

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Natural Supplements for Superimmunity A multivitamin/mineral supplement may improve immune system function to some extent, but vitamin and mineral supplements cannot replace the nutrients in food. The vitamins and minerals in whole foods are very complex and have many parts and co-factors that are dependent upon each other. Judith DeCava, MS. LNC, author of The Real Truth about Vitamins and Antioxidants, defines a vitamin as “a complex mechanism...of functional, inter-related, interdependent components. A vitamin consists of, not only the organic nutrient(s) identified as the vitamin, but also enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants and trace element activators.” (DeCava, 1996) Foods are perfectly designed with all the necessary vitamins, minerals and co-factors that work together synergistically to produce a healthy nutritional effect on the body. Most nutrients require a number of other nutritional elements to be present in order for them to be processed efficiently. You just can’t get this natural perfection from a vitamin bottle.

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Most supplement manufacturers are pharma-ceutical companies that synthesize vitamins byseparating out a part of the whole vitamin.Separated from the rest of their parts and neces-sary co-factors, these synthetic “vitamins” nolonger can produce a normal nutritional effect onthe body and may cause imbalances. They have more of a drug effect and may cause the body totry to compensate for missing nutritionalelements. Synthetic vitamins can be valuable in short-term therapeutic treatment of acute diseases or whenthere are severe deficiencies. But for generalhealth and disease prevention, natural foodsupplements such as rose hips, acerola berries,nutritional yeast, wheat germ oil, and cod-liver oil are the best bet for children. Dr. Laura Mason-Scarborough explains in herarticle, Synthetic or Natural Vitamins - What’s The Difference?, the problems with synthetic vitamins:

An excellent example of the difference between whole food and synthetic supplements, is vitamin C. The majority of books and maga-zines on the subject of nutrition refer to vitamin C as ascorbic acid. These terms are used interchange-

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ably. However, vitamin C is not simply ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is the outer skin of vitamin C, much like the skin of an orange. Vitamin C also contains bioflavonoid com-plexes, tyrosinase, and several other factors. What do you get if you purchase a synthesized bottle of vitamin C? You are buying ascorbic acid, a small part of vitamin C, manufactured from super-refined corn sugar. Ascorbic acid does have strong effects on the body but is more of a drug than a nutrient. Because your body needs all parts of a vitamin to function, it will leech the other necessary cofactors from itself in order to use the ascorbic acid (Mason-Scarborough 1998).

One thing that may be confusing is the potency of natural versus synthetic vitamins. Natural food concentrates have a much lower “potency” in milligrams or micrograms. This may lead you to believe that they are less effective and not as powerful as synthetic vitamins. Synthetic vita-mins are measured based on animal testing. It requires a large amount of the separated vitamin to achieve a specific reaction in animals (and in humans). According to Judith DeCava, this reac- 60

tion is a drug effect and not necessarily anutritional reaction. Food concentrates cause potent nutritional reactions since they are working with theirnatural synergists to be properly used by thebody. As Judith DeCava states “...a minuteamount of a vitamin that is left intact in its wholefood form is tremendously more functional,powerful, and effective nutritionally than a largeamount of a chemically-pure, vitamin fraction.Therefore, only small amounts of natural vitamincomplexes are required. They are organic micro-nutrients, nutrients needed in tiny quantities, toaccomplish many big biochemical jobs.” (DeCava1996) Nutritional Requirements are Unique for Each Child Individual needs for vitamins and minerals varygreatly in children, depending on many factors,including what they eat and breathe, the amountof sleep, stress and sun they get, the drugs they are taking, their emotional state, and how muchthey weigh. Absorption rates of vitamins,minerals and trace elements can easily vary from5 to 80%.

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The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences are recom-mendations for the average daily amounts of nutrients for population groups. These are not requirements for a specific person. One child may require twice as much, or even ten times as much, of one vitamin and half as much of another vitamin as another child. The main factor in determining your children’s nutritional supplement needs is the quality of their everyday diet. A diet comprised of pro-cessed foods, pesticides, and refined sugar requires a higher intake of nutrients since the body needs to work harder to metabolize these unnatural substances. This is especially true with a diet high in sugar since this “anti-nutrient” tends to leech vitamins and minerals from the body. Many nutritionists believe that “normal” nutritional requirements may be cut by a third or even a half for a child who regularly eats organic whole foods since whole food nutrients are absorbed and utilized better by the body. If your child has chronic immune problems or a disease or disorder that does not resolve after changing the diet, you may consider consulting a qualified nutritionist or other health professional

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to find out if he or she has any specific nutritionaldeficiencies and to determine specific needs. Probiotic Supplementation Consider supplementing with probiotics ormaking lacto-fermented vegetables if your childhas a history of antibiotic use, ear infections,thrush, diarrhea, constipation, colic, food aller-gies, eczema, intestinal viral infections,candidiasis, or is bottle-fed. Probiotics are the beneficial bacteria in theintestinal tract that keep the “bad” bacteria fromtaking over. These bacteria are essential forhealthy immunity and are part of the body’snatural defense system against infections. Arecent study in the British Medical Journalshowed that replenishing good bacteria protectsagainst recurrent ear infections in children (Roos2001). Another study concluded that supple-menting with probiotics could help children inday care have fewer infections (Hatakka, 2001). You can find probiotic supplements in therefrigerator section at your local health food store. Before freezers or canning machines, peoplepreserved vegetables for long periods through theprocess of lacto-fermentation. Lactic acid is anatural preservative that inhibits putrefying 63

bacteria. Starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits are converted into lactic acid by the many species of lactic-acid-producing bacteria. The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organ-isms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy bacteria throughout the intestine. Sally Fallon devotes a chapter of her book, Nourishing Traditions, to discussing the benefits of lacto-fermentation as well as how to easily make lacto-fermented condiments such as sauerkraut, pickled garlic, pickled cucumbers, relishes and chutneys. Included are many recipes. Sally brings us much wisdom with the following excerpt from this chapter:

Scientists and doctors today are mystified by the proliferation of new viruses—not only the deadly AIDS virus but the whole gamut of human viruses that seem to be associated with everything from chronic fatigue to cancer and

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arthritis. They are equally mystified by recent increases in the incidence of intestinal parasites and patho-genic yeasts, even among those whose sanitary practices are faultless. Could it be that in abandoning the ancient practice of lacto-fermentation and in our insistence on a diet in which everything has been pasteurized, we have compromised the health of our intestinal flora and made ourselves vulnerable to legions of pathogenic microorganisms? If so, the cure for these diseases will be found not in vaccinations, drugs or antibiotics but in a restored partnership with the many varieties of lactobacilli, our symbionts of the microscopic world. (Fallon 1999)

Your children can get all the nutritional elementsthey need from an organic whole foods diet ifthey eat enough of these foods. But what if theydon’t? If they don’t eat enough healthy foods,then you may want to supplement their diet withnatural vitamins and minerals or super foods,such as spirulina, cod liver oil, acerola tablets, beepollen, wheat germ oil, and nutritional yeast.Super foods or whole food concentrates are foods 65

that are very concentrated food forms of nutrition. Unlike synthetic vitamins, super foods provide many nutrients that support each other and prevent the kind of imbalances that often occur when vitamins are taken singly. An excellent whole food supplement is Dr. Schulze’s SuperFood. It is a 100% organic vitamin and mineral food concentrate that provides a wide range of natural food vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential trace nutrients. It contains spirulina, blue-green algae, chlorella, alfalfa, barley, and wheat grasses, purple dulse seaweed, beet root, spinach leaf, rose hips, orange and lemon peels, and nutritional yeast. (see resources)

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Immunity-Strengthening Herbs Herbs have been used safely all around the worldsince ancient times to prevent and treat disease.One of the most beneficial uses of herbs is instrengthening the immune system. Certain herbs,including echinacea, astragalus, elderberry, andgarlic, have been found to have remarkableimmunological effects in both the lab and clinic.These herbs support the body’s vitality and helpprevent development of disease. Keep in mind that herbs are not “magic bullets”or drugs designed to wipe out a specific disease.Many of us view our children’s and our ownillnesses as an inconvenience to be suppressed orcombated as soon as possible. We just want totake a pill to make it go away. But when we canrecognize the illness as an indicator that some-thing is out of balance in the body, we can workon building and strengthening the body tofunction at its best. Rather than fighting an illness by eliminating thesymptoms, herbs act to strengthen the function ofthe body so that it can heal the underlying cause,thus eliminating the disease. Herbs are available in liquid extracts (tinctures orglycerites), capsules and tablets. You can also buy 67

or make your own teas or infusions from dried or fresh herbs. Tinctures (extracted with alcohol) are the ideal way to take herbs, since the chemical properties that give the herb the medicinal power are more solvent into alcohol. Teas are also great ways to give herbs to children. Although children love the sweet taste of glycerites (herbs extracted with glycerine), gly-cerine is the least effective medium for making a potent extract. Even so, most companies that make children’s herbal formulas use glycerine because of the taste. These extracts may not be as effective as tinctures. A tincture can be added to tea or water that has just been boiled and left to stand about five minutes. The alcohol will evaporate out, leaving the medicine behind in the tea. Dosages for children over age one are usually calculated by weight. The dosages listed on bottles or in books are usually designed for a 150 lb. person, so you would need to divide your child’s weight by 150 to get the percentage of the recommended dosage. If your child weighs 75 lbs., the dosage would be 1/2 the dosage listed on the bottle. A child under a year old has an undeveloped and sensitive digestive system, but if they are nursing, 68

they can receive some herbs safely through your breastmilk. You can take the adult dose 15-30 minutes before nursing and the herb will be inyour milk for up to 48 hours. Some herbs are notsafe for pregnancy or lactation so it’s important toavoid them. Medications in Mother’s Milk, byThomas Hale, Ph.D., is an informative book withinformation on herbs for lactation (available atLaLeche League website-see resources). The following are immune-building herbs that have been found to be safe for children. Theseherbs have gentle, yet profound effects upon the body. They are natural sources of nutrients andother substances that the body uses to strengthenresistance to illness as well as to create anenvironment for healing. Echinacea With antiviral, antibacterial and other immuno-logical properties, echinacea is well-known for itsuse in treatment of infections and as a bloodpurifier. Over 50 years of research in Europe andmore than 400 published studies has establishedits safety and proven the clinical use of echinaceain boosting immunity and strengthening resis-tance to infection. See more about echinacea inthe Medicinal Roots section (below). 69

Astragalus Astragalus is a tonic herb that boosts immune function and strengthens resistance to disease. It increases the activity of infection-fighting white blood cells and boosts the production of interferon, an antiviral agent. Astragalus is used to prevent colds and flu and to restore immune strength once an illness is over. It is safe for long-term use and can be taken consistently throughout the cold and flu season. Astragalus is considered a warming herb in Chinese medicine suitable only for cold condi-tions. Depending upon the symptoms, a cold or flu may be considered hot or cold. If you don’t know if your child’s illness is hot or cold, consult a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine to find out if astragalus should be used. Otherwise, don’t use this herb during the illness. Sliced, dried astragalus root looks like a wooden tongue depressor. To make a tea, simmer 6 slices in 3 cups of water for 1 hour. Strain and serve. You can serve this tea alone or mix it with chamomile tea. You can also add the “tongue depressors” directly to your soup, stew, or rice pot and let it cook into the dish. Discard the astragalus before serving. It does not change the taste of the dish and your family can receive the 70

immune boosting properties directly from theirfood. Astragalus is sometimes available in adried, shredded form. For tea, simmer 3tablespoons of this and 3 cups of water in acovered pot for 30 minutes and strain. Black Elderberry Black Elderberry (sambucus nigra-L) stimulates theimmune system by increasing production ofinflammatory cytokines (Barak 2001). It has highconcentrations of certain bioflavonoids. A smallstudy showed that black elderberry is effectiveagainst flu strains. (Zakay-Rones 1995). Elder-berry can be safely given to children in a tea ortincture form. Garlic Known as nature’s antibiotic, garlic is one of themost effective anti-microbial plants available. It works to stimulate the immune system anddirectly destroys pathogenic bacteria, viruses,fungi, tumors, and parasites. While effectivelyeliminating the pathogenic organisms, garlicsupports the development of the beneficialbacteria in the body. No bacterial resistance is built up with garlic so itis safe to use long-term and frequently. Garlic can 71

be a powerful eradicator of antibiotic-resistant infections. Using garlic and echinacea together is a powerful combination. Garlic is a basic food that will enhance and protect the body’s overall health. Use as much fresh garlic as you can get your children to eat, along with echinacea for stimulating immunity and for treating disease. Note that the garlic must be fresh. Drying and cooking garlic leads to the loss of a large portion of the active antimicrobial constituents. These immune stimulating and disease fighting com-pounds are released with juicing, crushing or chewing of the fresh garlic. Garlic pills or capsules are not as effective when it comes to antimicrobial activity. Juice the fresh garlic and add it to other more palatable fresh juices. Or chew a piece of the clove prior to swallowing. You can also chew the garlic with almonds or other nuts to mask the taste. Getting kids to eat fresh raw garlic is a real challenge. One trick is to crush it through a garlic press, then add it to mashed potatoes, soups (at the last minute) or your child’s favorite food. Fresh, compressed garlic can be served in salad dressings and many other dishes. 72

Garlic has no toxic effects, even in large doses,although some people may have sensitivities togarlic. It may cause heartburn or flatulence in afew people, and of course the odor can be a realdrawback. Chewing on fresh parsley helps torelieve the odor of garlic on your breath. Chamomile With its antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory,antibacterial, and carminative properties, chamo-mile is used for a variety of things. As a gentlesedative and nerve tonic, chamomile can helpchildren to get the rest they need. A warm bathwith an infusion of chamomile can relax anunsettled child. It is a great digestive aid andappetite stimulant. It helps gas, stomach cramps,diarrhea, colic or any other stomach upset. Chamomile may also directly stimulate theimmune system. Wounds, diaper rash and otherskin problems can be washed with an infusion ofchamomile flowers. Chamomile tea is safe for infants. If you are anursing mother, drinking a couple cups ofchamomile tea each day may calm a fussy, colickybaby (along with your own nerves). Note: peoplewho suffer from allergies to ragweed sometimes

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have adverse reactions to chamomile, as these are in the same botanical family.) Nettle Also known as stinging nettles, nettle is one of the most mineral rich plants on earth. Particularly high in calcium, iron, protein, chlorophyll and vitamin C, nettle is a delicious food as well as a medicine. Nettle strengthens and supports the whole body, and is nourishing, diuretic, tonic, astringent and antihistamine. Clinical studies of nettle (in the form of freeze-dried capsules) show that it relieves the symptoms of hayfever and other allergies. Nettle is also beneficial for childhood eczema. It is an excellent nourishing herb for pregnancy, it can enrich the quality and increase the flow of breastmilk and restore a mother’s energy after childbirth. Nettle can be powdered and added to smoothies or drunk regularly as a tea or infusion.

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Medicinal Roots Herbal tonics made from medicinal roots can bevery beneficial in strengthening immunity. The following is an excerpt from clinical herbalistSusan Perri’s article Herbs for Winter Medicine:The Roots of Immunity (www.bluecrescentschool.com) The following is a list of common, simple nutritive herbs that are supportive and restorativeto human immunity. They are tonics, meaningthey are suitable for extensive use, even by smallchildren and pregnant or nursing mothers. Theseherbs are safe, effective, and able to be used overa given time period without fear of cumulativetoxicity or other adverse side effects. Dosagesmay include tincture (alcohol or glycerin basedextract) or decoction (water based extract, astrong tea), depending on the herb being usedand the desired effect. Dandelion root The bright yellow flowers and fluffy white seedheads of this common plant are easy to find invirtually any location in North America andEurope. The entire plant is medicinal - leaves, flowers, and roots. The roots, in particular, are asuperior nutritive tonic boasting alterative (bloodcleansing) properties. Dandelion root’s specific 75

action is on the liver. It is a classic hepatic, or liver tonic herb. Dandelion supports the inherent blood filtering capacity of the liver, assisting in the body’s natural housekeeping functions. Dandelion also offers a rich array of vitamins and minerals. This amazing tonic root is rich in iron, beta carotene, calcium, and potassium. Use dandelion root daily during the winter months. The root can be roasted and used as a coffee substitute, or simply simmered for tea. Tincture may also be used; follow the instructions for dosage on the label, using Clark’s Rule for children. Burdock root The wide gray-green leaves of this plant send up a high flowering stalk with the well known sticky burrs. Walk among burdock in the late summer and you are sure to find hitchhiking burrs on hair, clothing, and pets. Its action is rather similar to that of dandelion root, working as a liver tonic and alterative. Burdock makes excellent wild food, which is naturally sweet, and in fact is cultivated in Japan for its medicinal and nutritive value. Burdock root, like dandelion, carries an abundant array of vitamins and trace minerals, including magnesium, potassium, vitamin A and calcium. 76

Yellow dock root Found in abundance along ditches and roadsides,yellow dock has a deep yellow root and apungent earthy smell. Its early spring leaves canbe steamed and eaten to benefit the liver and asluggish winter metabolism. The root works in a similar fashion, helping to clear stagnant bloodand assist the liver. Additionally, yellow dock root is rich inphytonutrients. It has a high iron content, work-ing directly to nourish the blood and the bloodbuilding capacity of the bone marrow. Yellowdock also offers a natural source of phosphorusand essential vitamins A, B, and C. It is excellentnatural protection from certain anemias, andprovides a comprehensive natural defense duringtimes of lessened resistance or increased exposureto illness. Echinacea root The lovely purple coneflower used to grace ourprairie states in abundance, but due to recentnotoriety it has reached endangered status onenvironmental watch lists. Echinacea is a won-derful herbal medicine, and it is vitally importantto use it appropriately and acquire it responsibly.Please buy echinacea organically grown, and not 77

wild harvested (ethically or otherwise). This is the best way to insure your purchase is not further exhausting limited natural habitats. Echinacea works by directly stimulating and enhancing natural immune responses. It, too, has an alterative action, but also works to increase circulating white blood cells. White blood cells are responsible for various stages and aspects of the immune system’s process. Generally, white blood cells work by seeking out and destroying invasive, harmful particles found circulating in the blood. This neutralization process is integral to preventing and healing any kind of infection. In other words, Echinacea root works rather like an herbal antibiotic. It is not a tonic herb, contrary to popular belief and practice. Echinacea is best used in an acute situation when infection is present - not as preventive medicine. When echinacea is used extensively as part of a preventive care program, it loses its potency and effectiveness. Much like an antibiotic, when echinacea is truly needed to do its vital work, the body has built a resistance to it if it has been taken regularly prior to that time. Echinacea works very well and is safe for children and pregnant women. In fact, a recent scientific study backs what traditional herbalists have 78

observed for centuries. A controlled studythrough Motherisk found no significant differ-ence between the group of pregnant womenusing Echinacea and the controls. The conclusionof this study suggests that Echinacea use duringpregnancy is not associated with increased risksfor malformations.

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Healthy Thoughts and Feelings Create Healthy Immunity Much research has been done on how thoughts and emotions affect the cells, organs and tissues of the body. Thoughts and emotions actually generate physiological substances that affect the processes in the body. The field of psychoneuroimmunology is helping us to better understand how the nervous, immune and endocrine systems communicate. Neuropeptides and neurotransmitters are mes-sengers released by the brain that influence the cellular activity in the body. White blood cells (key immune factors that destroy disease) receive direct messages from the brain through the nervous system. These are just some of the communication paths between the mind and body. Through research and experience, it is becoming increasingly evident that the mind and body directly affect each other and are essentially one and the same. Your child’s state of mind definitely influences the development of and the healing of illness. Hopelessness, depression, and the bottling up of emotions can have negative effects on physical health. Emotional stress and unhappiness can

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deplete the immune system and increase thelikelihood of disease. Studies suggest that psycho-logical stress is a risk factor for the common cold(Takkouche 2001). Events in children’s lives ortheir perception of these events can profoundlyaffect their resistance to disease. Laughter and positive thoughts and feelingsstimulate the cells of the immune system. Themore children laugh and enjoy life, the bettertheir immune function. Does your child freely express his or her feelingsand have a strong sense of self-worth? Has there been a loss of a close relative, teacher, friend, orpet, and has he or she been able to fully grieve theloss? Has there been any type of physical oremotional trauma or a traumatic birth? Theseemotional states can definitely affect the state of your child’s health. If needed, a psychotherapist can provide supportfor and be a guide for your child’s mental andemotional healing. Art or music therapy can bevery helpful for children to get in touch with theirfeelings. Meditation is a valuable tool that olderchildren can learn to help them to relax andbecome aware of their feelings. Children can alsobe guided to take deep breaths when they arestressed. 81

Imagery is a fun and powerful mental technique that allows children to use their imagination to influence their health. They can use guided imagery to calm themselves down, relieve pain, increase immunity to disease, increase body image, increase learning or athletic potential, and promote healing. Emotional health needs to be nurtured throughout pregnancy, birth and childhood. Babies need to be breastfed, held, carried, rocked and cuddled on a continuous basis. Attachment parenting is a style of parenting that recognizes the critical importance of a secure attachment between parents and young children. This adaptable parenting style is nurturing, loving, and touch-oriented with practices that include bonding with baby, breastfeeding, responsive caregiving, co-sleeping, carrying or “wearing” the baby, and respect for the child as an individual. Listening to your children and honoring their feelings promotes healthy expression of emotions. When they feel loved and sense that the people around them love each other, they are secure and happy – this makes them healthier.

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An important way to guard against emotionalstress and promote positive feelings in an infantor toddler is by frequent breastfeeding. Inaddition to the tremendous immune-building ef-fects of breastmilk, the comfort children receivefrom nursing reassures them and can ease thesometimes stressful situation of being a little per-son in a big world. Nurturing touch communicates love, the mainingredient for emotional growth and well-being. Giving regular massages to babies and children ofall ages can relieve stress and stimulate theimmune system. You can learn to do baby andchild massage yourself. Find a class in your area,or you can get the book, Infant Massage, A Handbook for Loving Parents, by Vimala Schneider McClure (see resources). Plenty of sleep is also essential. Your child’s bodyregenerates and renews itself while sleeping. Lackof enough sleep can be a big factor in a depletedimmune system. It’s important to include “quiettime” as part of your child’s day. Kids can easilybe taught to practice yoga and meditation. Agreat yoga video for kids is YogaKids by LivingArts. Plenty of fresh air and exercise can make a bigdifference in the health of your children. Exercise 83

relieves stress and stimulates the immune system. Turn off the television and video games and encourage your children to get involved in sports and other activities in which they can move their bodies while having fun. Spending a lot of time inside, breathing chemically polluted, recirculated air, can be a hazard to your child’s health. Go for walks, play in the woods and let your children climb, jump, run, and dance. Let them hug trees and run barefoot in the grass. Mother Nature can be an excellent immune stimulator.

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Allergies Children can have one or more allergies orsensitivities to food, pollens, molds, dusts anddust mites and be sensitive to any of thenumerous chemicals now present in ourenvironment. Any food can be an allergen, butthe most common are dairy, wheat, eggs, nuts,chocolate, citrus, and soy. As the immune system develops, it learns how torecognize what is self and what is an outsideinvader. Sometimes the immune system reacts toharmless substances or responds to the body’sown glands or tissues as if they were a cancer. Anallergy occurs when the immune system attacks harmless foods or other substances that enter thebody from the outside. An autoimmune diseaseoccurs when the immune system attacks its ownbody. It is important to deal with allergies since theunnecessary reactions against foods or other substances can exhaust the immune system, caus-ing insufficient defenses for mounting an effectiveresponse against disease (Wunderlich 1995). A large percentage of people experience adecrease or elimination of allergies when proper

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nutrition is started through diet and natural supplementation. EFA deficiencies can play an important role in allergies. Dr. Galland’s research shows that people with allergies need more EFAs than people who don’t have allergies. (Galland 1986). He says that one of the enzymes involved in EFA metabolism is weakened or doesn’t function properly in people with allergies. Another study has found that in children with allergic eczema and asthma, the EFA conversion is blocked. (Galland 1988). Similar EFA blocks have been found in people with hay fever. Fortu-nately, this can be overcome by adding enough EFAs to the diet. Dr. Galland points out “Even when an infant inherits a predisposition for allergies, special protective elements found in breastmilk, together with EFAs, can delay the onset of allergic illness and greatly reduce its severity” (Galland 1988). Probiotics (beneficial bacteria) are safe for infants and effective in reducing allergic inflammation and food allergies. Giving pregnant mothers and newborns doses of probiotics helps to prevent childhood allergies (Kalliomaki 2001). 86

Homeopathy prescribed by a classical homeopathcan be very helpful in improving or completelyeliminating allergies. The correct constitutionalremedy specific to your child’s completesymptom picture and emotional state is essential,so finding a good classical homeopath is impor-tant (see resources). Many children (and adults) have completelyeliminated their allergies through Nambudripad’sAllergy Elimination Technique (NAET). By repro-gramming the brain and removing the blockagesfrom the energy pathways of the body, NAET cancompletely eliminate an allergy and allow thebody to regain balance and function normally. Thousands of doctors of acupuncture, allopathy,chiropractic and various other licensed practi-tioners have been trained in NAET. (see resources)

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Our Children’s Toxic Environment More than 75,000 chemicals are permeating our environment. A substantial body of evidence suggests that exposure to toxic chemicals may compromise the immune systems of infants and children, increasing their risk of infectious disease (NRDC). Children come in contact with pesticides every day through the food they eat, the water they drink and the air they breathe. In addition, most children are exposed to pesticides in their homes and schools, as well as on playgrounds, lawns, athletic fields, and public parks. These substances enter their small bodies through the skin, lungs, mouth and eyes. If the body cannot eliminate the toxins, they tend to be stored in body fat and accumulate over time. Infants and small children are especially vulnerable because they absorb substances faster and have more difficulty eliminating them. Their kidneys are immature and cannot excrete foreign compounds as fast as adults (NRDC). Very little is known about the combined effects of repeated low-level exposures to many different

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chemicals. But the preliminary evidence andinformation that is known alerts us that we have acritical, universal problem that is slowly diminishing the health of our children. Environmental toxins are everywhere, but there ismuch you can do to avoid unnecessary exposuresand reduce the overall amount of chemicals yourchildren take into their bodies. There areaffordable, nontoxic alternatives to all lawn andgarden pesticides, toxic household cleaners andpersonal care products. Buying organic foods willgreatly decrease your child’s overall exposure topesticides and add more important minerals tothe diet. The importance of organic food for childrencannot be stressed enough. Children are exposedto so many chemicals on a regular basis, why addmore in their food? Consumers Union and theEnvironmental Working Group (based on 1999studies) found the following foods to have thehighest pesticide residues. If you’re not able tobuy all your foods organic, at least try to get theseorganic, whenever possible: Strawberries Peaches Bell Peppers (Green and Red) Apples 89

Pears Winter Squash Green Beans Grapes Raspberries Spinach Potatoes Cherries Cantaloupe (Mexican) Celery Apricots If you do buy conventional produce, peel the fruit that you would normally just wash, such as apples and pears. Remember, though, that when you do this you are also throwing away a valuable nutrition resource since a good deal of the fiber, vitamins and minerals are found in the peel of the fruit. Also keep in mind some pesticides, such as dieldrin, aldicarb and DDT are systemic, and are found throughout the vegetable or fruit (Utterback 2001). Organic food is not always more expensive than conventional. In fact, it can be less expensive if you know where to buy it. Buy organic food locally grown, in season, and in bulk. The least expensive way is to grow it yourself. You could also buy it from a local coop, health food store or

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farmers market, or purchase it directly from adistribution warehouse or a food-buying club. A community supported agriculture (CSA)program, where you buy the food directly from alocal farmer can be a good way to go. A funouting for the kids is to go to a U-Pick farm andpick your own strawberries or other fruits andvegetables and pay lower prices by the pound. Ifyou don’t have these resources in your area, youcould purchase organic food over the Internet,but this is usually more expensive. Environmental Medicine Doris Rapp, M.D., a leading environmental medi-cal specialist and pediatric allergist, has written afully documented, 600-page book describing thecauses, health effects and treatments ofenvironmental illness. Is This Your Child’s World? How You Can Fix the Schools and Homes That AreMaking Your Children Sick provides help for children who are hyperactive, asthmatic, or suf-fering from chronic illness or learning problemscaused by chemicals in the environment. Environmental illness is a label for an assortmentof medical problems caused by environmentalfactors. Common symptoms are some combin-ation of nasal congestion, fatigue, headaches, 91

hyperactivity, muscle or joint pain, twitches, blurred vision, burning skin, abdominal discomfort, and inability to think clearly, as well as a variety of learning or behavior difficulties (Rapp 1996). Practitioners of environmental medicine recog-nize that illness can be caused by a broad range of substances, including chemicals found at home, in the workplace, and in the air, water, and food. There are multiple approaches to treatment, including changes in lifestyle, diet and environ-ment. New techniques such as provocation-neutralization can not only pinpoint the causes but also provide fast and effective relief of the symptoms. Studies have supported the use of the approaches of environmental medicine in treating arthritis, asthma, chemical sensitivity, allergies, colitis, depression, eczema, fatigue, and hyperactivity. For more information about environmental medi-cine, see resources.

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Chronic Immune Dysfunction If after making the lifestyle changes described inthis book, your child is still overly susceptible toinfections or has multiple allergies, there may besome persistent underlying disturbance in thebody causing a weak immune response (immuno-deficiency) or chronic immune dysfunction. If thisis the case, you may want to try homeopathy orchiropractic to work with this condition. Homeopathy Classical homeopathy has had great success withallergies, asthma, eczema, recurrent respiratory orear infections, and behavior or attentionproblems. Homeopathy prescribed by a classicalhomeopath can help tremendously to release thedisturbance from the body. Homeopathy is acomplete medical system that works with thewhole person. The key is to find the exact remedy that fits all thesymptoms. An experienced homeopath willchoose a specific constitutional remedy bylooking at all the symptoms and characteristics ofyour child at the present time. Once the currentlayer is dealt with there may be another layer ofdisturbance requiring a different remedy. 93

Chronic problems require the training and experience of a qualified classical homeopath. You should not attempt to do home prescribing of homeopathic remedies on your own for chronic situations. See resources for more information and to find a homeopath. Chiropractic The nervous system affects the immune system, both directly and indirectly, and plays an important role in the immune response (Wassung). Subtle misalignment of the bones, muscles and ligaments can lead to irritation of the nervous system and can alter the ability of the nerves to supply the muscles and organs of the body with vital communication and information. The scientific study of neuro-immunology (the link between the nervous system and the immune system) indicates that stress to the nervous system produces decreased immunity and increases susceptibility to disease. Misalignments of the spine (also called subluxations) can occur during childbirth, from tumbles or falls, or from any other normal activity. Chiropractic care involves diagnosing spinal misalignments and correcting them by adjusting the spine. A slight pressure is most 94

commonly used with children rather than themore forceful manipulation sometimes used withadults. With proper nerve flow, the immunesystem can function at fuller capacity, allowingthe body to naturally defend itself against disease. A promising study published in the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics now indicates that there is a strong correlation between chiropracticadjustments and the resolution of ear infections.332 children with chronic ear infectionsparticipated in the study. Each child, ranging inage from 27 days to 5 years, was given a series ofchiropractic adjustments. The results show thatclose to 80% of the children did not experienceanother ear infection within the six-month periodfollowing their initial visits (Fallon 1997).

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Integrating Healthy Immunity-Building Into Your Family’s Lifestyle Incorporating some of the lifestyle changes mentioned in this book can be a very significant endeavor for most families. For some, it is a whole new philosophy. It may be a little scary to venture out from the so-called norm of conventional medicine. If you feel this way, take your time and investigate further. Plenty of books, websites, and organizations are mentioned in the resource section. Read as much as you can and thoroughly research everything until you feel comfortable with your decisions. There is a lot of information contained in this booklet, and you may feel a little overwhelmed, particularly with the information about nutrition. It may seem as though everything your children are eating now is unhealthy and you’re won-dering how you can possibly make all the changes to their diets. Especially if you live in an area with no natural food stores or a limited food budget. Relax and go slowly. You don’t have to make major changes overnight. An organic, whole foods diet is something to always strive for, but

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you don’t have to be rigid with it. Make whateverchanges you can. Even small changes willimprove your children’s health to some extent. Here are a few suggestions: The way you can make the most impact on increasing your children’s health is to keeprefined sugar and foods containing sugar out ofyour house. Begin by limiting the amount youbuy until you just don’t buy it at all anymore. Itcan’t harm your children if it stays on the shelves at the store. With the money you save on sugarproducts, you can buy organic food. When yourkids get to have sugar at parties or otherfunctions outside your home, it will be a big treat,and they’ll know that home is the place wherethey can count on only the best food to make theirbodies healthy. This does not mean there can’t be any treats athome. There are many delicious treats you canmake using healthier sweeteners such as stevia,sucanat, or maple syrup. But these sweetenersshould be used sparingly with the attentionplaced on healthy whole foods. A good book tohelp you with eliminating sugar is CarbohydrateAddicted Kids: Help Your Child or Teen Break Free ofJunk Food and Sugar Cravings – for life!, by Dr.

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Richard Heller and Dr. Rachael Heller (Harper-Collins 1997). If your children are drinking too much commercial fruit juice (bottled, canned, or boxed), you can wean them by diluting one-third white grape juice with two-thirds water. You can slowly cut the juice out altogether. Pure water is the best drink for children. Begin adding more antioxidants to your children’s diets as often as you can. This could be as easy as slipping them fruit or vegetable snacks often throughout the day. You could cut up a red pepper, some carrots and add a little dipping sauce to make it interesting. Or give them a fruit salad with vitamin C rich fruits as a snack. Most children will be happy with this. What is a good way to get a substantial amount of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants into your child’s body? By giving your child freshly squeezed juices and smoothies – which most kids love. Two important appliances to have in your kitchen are a good juicer and blender. Juices must be fresh and organic. You need to juice the produce yourself and immediately give them to your children before the vitamins and minerals are lost. You can start them off with 80% 98

apple and 20% carrot. As your child gets used tothis, start adding more carrot and less apple, untilit’s just carrot juice. Ideally, vegetables and fruits should not be mixed. According to Dr. Richard Schulze (www.dr-schulze.com), a good combination for vegetablejuicing that many kids will accept is: 70% carrot juice 20% beet root and beet greens 10% other dark greens A good fruit combination for kids: 40% apple juice 40% grape juice 20% any red, blue or purple fruit (strawberry,blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, cherry, prune,etc.) Healthy Child Immunity Smoothie 1 cup freshly squeezed fruit juice 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil or cod liver oil 1 large banana 1 tablespoon Dr. Schulze’s SuperFood (or similarwhole-food supplement) 1/2 - 1 cup frozen organic blueberries, strawber-ries or other berries. 99

Immunity Smoothie (continued) Mix in a blender. You can experiment with this until you find a way that your child will accept. The SuperFood has a pretty strong taste so start out with small amounts and increase slowly. You could also use almond milk or organic whole milk plain yogurt instead of the fruit juice to make it creamier. This drink is sweet-tasting, but if your child refuses to drink this because it’s “not sweet enough”, sweeten it with a little pure maple syrup or a very small pinch of stevia. Be creative.

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Checklist for Building Healthy Immunity The following checklist can be helpful indetermining the steps and options you may taketo strengthen your child’s immunity. Do yourown research and become informed about allaspects of these options. See the resource sectionof this book to begin your research.

Ensure that your diet during pregnancy isa healthy diet of organic whole foods.

Be certain to get enough essential fatty

acids in your diet while pregnant.

Reduce your own emotional stress whilepregnant. Send loving thoughts and nur-turing touch to your baby while in thewomb.

Avoid environmental toxins while preg-

nant.

Consider a natural, home birth forwelcoming your baby into the world in apeaceful, nurturing environment.

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Put your baby to your breast as soon as possible after birth. Ask for help from your midwife or a lactation consultant if neces-sary. Make sure your baby receives the colostrum from your breast before your milk comes in.

Have continuous physical contact with

your baby by holding, carrying, touching, and breastfeeding.

Breastfeed your baby for as long as

possible – even into the preschool years if the child so chooses. This is by far the absolute best thing you can do to build strong immunity for a lifetime.

Make sure you are eating a healthy diet of

organic, whole foods while breastfeeding, and reduce the toxins to which you are exposed.

Research all aspects of childhood vaccin-

ations before determining whether or not to vaccinate your children.

Avoid repeated rounds of antibiotics,

unless absolutely necessary. Talk to your child’s doctor about the necessity, the effectiveness, and the side effects of any

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prescribed drugs, and obtain as muchinformation as possible about the drugbefore accepting it for your child.

If using antibiotics, supplement with pro-

biotics, and try to find and resolve theunderlying cause of infection.

As much as possible, give your children

organic, whole, fresh foods and avoid allprocessed food, including sugar, processedgrains, pasteurized milk and dairy pro-ducts, commercial fruit juice, andcommercial meats.

Give your children fresh fruits and

vegetables as much as possible.

Make sure your children’s daily dietincludes foods that contain essential fattyacids or supplement with flax seed oil orcod liver oil on a daily basis.

Use whole food supplements and probio-

tics when necessary.

Use immune-building tonic herbs, espe-cially in the fall and winter months.

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Pay attention to your children’s emotional health. Listen to them and honor their feelings. Encourage self-expression. Give them nurturing touch and massages on a regular basis.

Make sure your children get plenty of

sleep and rest.

Make sure your children get plenty of exercise.

Make sure your children drink plenty of

pure water. Filter your tap water with a good reverse osmosis, carbon block filtering system.

Reduce exposure to chemicals and other

toxins as much as possible.

If allergies are a problem, try resolving them through changes to the diet. Supple-ment with essential fatty acids. Consult a homeopath or a practitioner of NAET if necessary.

If still experiencing chronic immune dys-

function, consult a health practitioner.

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Neustaedter, R. 2005. Child Health Guide: Holistic Pediatricsfor Parents Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books. Rapp, D., M.D. 1996. Is this your child’s world? How you canfix the schools and homes that are making your children sick. New York: Bantam. Reddy NR, Sathe, SK, eds. 2002. Food Phytates, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press Rinsdor, W., E. Cheraskin, and R. Ramsay. 1976. Sucroseneutrophlic phagocystosis and resistance to disease. Dental Survey 52. 46-48 Robinson, J. 2000. Why grassfed is best! The surprising benefitsof grassfed meat, eggs, and dairy products. Vashon, WA:Vashon Island Press. Roos, K., E. G. Hakansson, S. Holm 2001. Effect of recolonisation with “interfering” alpha streptococci onrecurrences of acute and secretory otitis media in children:randomised placebo controlled trial. British Medical JournalJan 27;322(7280):210-2 Sanchez, et al. 1973. Role of sugars in human neutrophilicphagocytosis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition(November) 1180-1184 Sandler, B., M.D. 1951. Diet prevents polio, Milwaukee, WI:The Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research. Schaffer, R. 1995. A case of oral polio vaccinosis. Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, 88: 33-34. cited by Neustaedter, R. 1996. The vaccine guide. 109

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Resources Recommended websites, articles, and books: Natural, Holistic Health Healthy Child Online http://www.healthychild.com Unique parenting website and E-Newsletter that gives you free, reliable information about natural health and holistic medicine for children and safe, natural products. Holistic Pediatric Association http://www.hpakids.org Non-profit educational website providing inform-ation and support to parents and pediatric health professionals in holistic medicine and natural parenting. Search the HPA Health Professional Directory for a holistic practitioner in your area. Child Health Guide: Holistic Pediatrics for Parents by Randall Neustaedter, OMD (North Atlantic Books, 2005) Natural Birth Birthing the Future

http://www.birthingthefuture.com

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Breastfeeding LaLeche League International 1-800-LALECHE http://lalecheleague.org Articles, Products, Resources http://www.breastfeeding.com Dr. Newman’s Breastfeeding Articles http://www.bflrc.com/newman/articles.htm Community Groups Find holistic-minded families in your local area Families for Natural Living http://www.familiesfornaturalliving.org Holistic Moms Network http://www.holisticmoms.org Attachment Parenting International http://www.attachmentparenting.org

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Food and Nutrition Article: Whole Foods for Healthy Kids http://www.healthychild.com/database/whole_foods_for_healthy_kids.htm Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, by Sally Fallon with Mary Enig (Washington, DC: New Trends Publishing, Inc., 1999) Superimmunity for Kids: What to Feed Your Children to Keep Them Healthy Now – and Prevent Disease in Their Future, by Leo Galland, M.D. (New York: Dell Publishing, 1988) Carbohydrate Addicted Kids: Help Your Child or Teen Break Free of Junk Food and Sugar Cravings – For Life!, by Dr. Richard F. Heller and Dr. Rachael F. Heller (HarperPerennial, 1997) The Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide, by Elson M. Haas, M.D. (Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts, 1999) Lick The Sugar Habit, by Dr. Nancy Appleton (Deluxe Trade Paperback) http://www.nancyappleton.com

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Get the Sugar Out : 501 Simple Ways to Cut theSugar in Any Diet by Ann Louise Gittleman(Crown Pub,1996) Sugar Blues, by William F. Duffy (Warner Books,1993) Nutrition Education Organizations Weston A. Price Foundation Nutrition education and research http://www.WestonAPrice.org International Foundation for Nutrition andHealth (IFNH) Information on nutrition andwhole food concentrates. http://www.ifnh.org Juicing To Order the Book Juicing For Life and CompareDifferent Brands of Juicers: http://gulfcoastjuicers.com/juicingforlife.html

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Grass-Fed Products Eat Wild http://www.eatwild.com A clearinghouse for information about pasture-based (grassfed) farming. Search the directory to find a supplier of pastured products in your area Dr. Joseph Mercola - Optimal Wellness Center http://www.mercola.com/beef/main.htm You can purchase grass-fed beef at this website GRACE Factory Farm Project http://www.factoryfarm.org Their goal is to eliminate factory farming in favor of a sustainable food production system Weston A. Price Foundation http://www.westonaprice.org/local_chapters/local_chapters.html Local chapters can help you find locally-grown organic and biodynamic vegetables, fruits and grains; and milk products, butter, eggs, chicken and meat from pasture-fed animals. 202-333-HEAL Weston A. Price Foundation Campaign for Real Milk http://www.realmilk.com 116

Why Grassfed is Best! The Surprising Benefitsof Grassfed Meat, Eggs, and Dairy Products, by Jo Robinson (Vashon, WA: Vashon Island Press,2000) available at www.eatwild.com Organic Whole Foods Directory of Farmers Markets http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets Directory and Information on CommunitySupported Agriculture (CSA) http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa Organic Trade Association http://www.ota.com Nutritional Supplements Article: Synthetic or Natural Vitamins – What’s The Difference? http://www.healthychild.com/database/synthetic_or_natural_vitamins_what_s_the_difference_.htm The Real Truth About Vitamins andAntioxidants, by Judith A. DeCava, MS, LNC(Columbus, GA: Brentwood Academic Press,1996) 117

American Botanical Pharmacy Dr. Schulze’s SuperFood http://www.dr-schulze.com 1-800-HERB-DOC Allergies Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) To find a practitioner in your area: http://www.naet.com Say Goodbye to Children’s Allergies, by Dr. Devi Nambudripad, D.C., L.Ac., Ph.D. See also homeopathy and probiotics resources. Herbs Herb Research Foundation http://www.herbs.org Science-based information on the health benefits and safety of herbs Ask the Herbalist http://www.healthychild.com/asktheherbalist.htm 118

Probiotics Article - Probiotics: The Friendly Bacteria, by Leon Chaitow N.D., D.O., M.R.O. http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/Article.asp?PageType=Article&Id=499 Pro Biotics : The Revolutionary ‘FriendlyBacteria’ Way to Vital Health and Well-Being by Leon Chaitow and Natasha Trenev (Harper-Collins, 1990) Homeopathy Homeopathic Educational Services http://www.homeopathic.com Publisher and distributor of homeopathic books,tapes, software, and medicine kits. General home prescribing books Homeopathy for Children, Gabrielle Pinto andMurray Feldman, C.W. Daniel Company, 2000. Everybodyʹs Guide to Homeopathic Medicines, Stephen Cummings and Dana Ullman, Jeremy P.Tarcher/Putnam, 1997. Homeopathic Self-Care, Robert Ullman and JudythReichenberg-Ullman, Prima Publishing, 1997. 119

Find a Homeopath - Search these directories Holistic Pediatric Association http://www.hpakids.org Council for Homeopathic Certification http://www.homeopathy-council.org Homeopath Referrals http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/STEVELIST.htm Online Course: Introduction to Homeopathy http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm Chiropractic

International Chiropractic Pediatric Association http://www.icpa4kids.org

Search their directory for a pediatric chiropractor

American Chiropractic Association http://www.amerchiro.org International Chiropractors Association http://www.chiropractic.org 120

Vaccinations National Vaccine Information Center http://www.909shot.com A national nonprofit educational organizationthat provides support to help educate parentsabout vaccine safety and their right to chooseimmunizations, as well as support for parentsand families who have experienced thedevastation of a vaccine reaction, injury or death. They offer books, a newsletter, information onstate vaccine laws, resource studies, lists oflawyers handling vaccine issues, etc. Online Class: Introduction to Vaccine Dangers http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm Thinktwice Global Vaccine Institute http://thinktwice.com/global.htm The Immunization Resource Guide: Where toFind Answers to All Your Questions AboutChildhood Vaccinations, by Diane Rozario(Burlington, IA: Patter Publications, 2000) The Vaccine Guide: Risks and Benefits forChildren and Adults, by Randall Neustaedter,OMD (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2002)

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Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide, by Aviva Jill Romm (Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 2001) Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective? A Parent’s Guide to Childhood Shots, by Neil Miller (Santa Fe: New Atlantean Press, 1994) Immunization: Theory vs. Reality, by Neil Miller, (Santa Fe: New Altantean Press, 1996) Vaccination: The Issue of Our Times. A comprehensive collection of articles, research, and references, challenging the conventional view-point on vaccinations. Edited by Peggy O’Mara, Mothering Magazine. http://www.mothering.com What Every Parent Should Know About Childhood Immunization, by Jamie Murphy (Boston: Earth Healing Products, 1993) Vaccinations 100 Years of Orthodox Research, by Viera Scheibner Vaccination: The Medical Assault on the Immune System, by Viera Scheibner (Blackheath, NSW, Australia, 1993)

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Vaccination Deception: How Vaccines PreventOptimal Health! By Teddy H. Spence, DDS, ND(Exmore, VA: Truth Seekers Press, 2000) The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination isnot Immunization, by Tim O’Shea (San Jose, CA:NewWest, 2000) http://www.thedoctorwithin.com Vaccination News Extensive articles and news related to vaccineshttp://www.vaccinationnews.com Vaccination Information & Choice Network http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm Informative Vaccinations E-mail List for Parents Looking Into the Issue of Vaccinations http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vaccinations Extensive Vaccine Information http://www.whale.to/vaccines.html Center for Disease Control Government Agency Monitoring Disease andInfluencing Vaccine Policy http://www.cdc.gov Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System(VAERS) http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaers/vaers.htm 123

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) - A Doctor’s Group that Opposes Mandatory Vaccines http://www.aapsonline.org Medicine Holistic Pediatric Association http://www.hpakids.org Non-profit educational website providing information and support to parents and pediatric health professionals in holistic medicine and natural parenting. Search the HPA Health Professional Directory for a holistic practitioner in your area. The Curse of Louis Pasteur: Why Medicine is Not Healing A Diseased World, by Nancy Appleton, PhD ((Santa Monica, CA: Choice Publishing, 1999) Beyond Antibiotics: 50 (or so) Ways to Boost Immunity and Avoid Antibiotics, by Michael A. Schmidt, Lendon H. Smith, and Keith W. Sehnert (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1994)

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How To Raise a Healthy Child…in Spite ofYour Doctor, by Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. (NewYork: Ballentine Books, 1984) A truly excellentbook written by a renowned pediatrician fornearly thirty years. Conventional Medicine vs. Holistic: A World of Difference, by Tim O’Shea (San Jose, CA:NewWest, 1999) http://www.thedoctorwithin.com Childhood Ear Infections, What Every Parentand Physician Should Know about Prevention,Home Care, and Alternative Treatment, by Dr. Michael A. Schmidt (Berkeley, CA: North AtlanticBooks, 1990) Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child: APractical A-to-Z Reference to Natural andConventional Treatments for Infants &Children, by Janet Zand, Lac, OMD, RachelWalton, RN, and Bob Rountree, MD (Avery 1994)

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Environment Children’s Health Environmental Coalition http://www.checnet.org Is This Your Child’s World? How You Can Fix the Schools and Homes that are Making Your Children Sick, by Doris Rapp, M.D. (New York: Bantam, 1996) Toxic Deception: How the Chemical Industry Manipulates Science, Bends the Law and Endangers Your Health, by Dan Fagin and Marianne Lavelle (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1999) The Safe Shopper’s Bible: A Consumer’s Guide to Nontoxic Household Products, Cosmetics, and Food, by David Steinman and Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. (Macmillan, 1995) Our Children at Risk: The 5 Worst Environmental Threats to Their Health, National Research Defense Council (NRDC) November, 1997 http://www.nrdc.org/health/kids/ocar/ocarinx.asp American Academy of Environmental Medicine http://www.aaem.com 126

Mental/Emotional/Spiritual Health Inspired Parenting http://www.inspiredparenting.net Children of the New Earth magazine https://www.childrenofthenewearth.com Nurturing Children Through ProgressiveParenting http://www.bestfed.com Article: The Benefits and Joys of Infant Massagehttp://www.healthychild.com/database/the_benefits_and_joys_of_infant_massage.htm Infant Massage: A Handbook for LovingParents, by Vimala Schneider McClure (BantamBooks, 1989) National Organization of Circumcision Infor-mation Resource Centers (NOCIRC) http://www.nocirc.org Article: A Wellness Approach for Children http://www.healthychild.com/database/a_wellness_approach_for_children.htm Yoga Kids Video, by Living Arts (800-2-LIVING)

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Natural Parenting and Attachment Parenting Attachment Parenting International http://www.attachmentparenting.org Mothering Magazine http://www.mothering.com Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children http://www.atlc.org The Natural Child Project http://www.naturalchild.org Aware Parenting Institute http://www.awareparenting.com Liedloff Continuum Network http://www.continuum-concept.org Holistic Parenting, by Lynn Wiese Sneyd (Los Angeles, Keats Publishing, 2000) Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting, by Peggy O’Mara, publisher of Mothering Magazine (Pocket Books, 2000) available at www.mothering.com

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Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for YourBaby and Young Child, by Katie Allison Granjuwith Betsy Kennedy, R.N., M.S.N. (Pocket Books,1999) The Whole Parenting Guide, by Alan Reder, Phil Catalfo, and Stephanie Renfrow Hamilton(Broadway Books, 1999) The Aware Baby: A New Approach to Parenting, by Aletha J. Solter (Goleta, CA: Shining Star Press,P.O. Box 206, Goleta, CA.) www.awareparenting.com