A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally (64 page)

Read A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally Online

Authors: Sue Frederick

Tags: #Health & Fitness, #Women's Health, #test

BOOK: A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally
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Page 192
Flaxseed Meal
If your child has trouble with constipation, or if you just want to add more fiber to his diet, flaxseed meal is a great way to do so, since it also will provide essential fatty acids. Freshly ground organic flaxseed meal has a sweet, nutty taste. Sprinkle it over salads, mix it into dips, or add a spoonful to a bowl of soup, cold cereal, or cooked oatmeal. Encourage your teenager to make flaxseed a daily habit. Flaxseed meal is the best internal cosmetic for beautiful skin. It can help turn blotchy, pimply skin into a clear, radiant complexion. Purchase organic flaxseed and grind as needed in a coffee grinder or blender, or buy already-ground organic flaxseed mealit should be in the refrigerator case near the flaxseed oil at your health food store or whole foods grocery. Check the expiration date. Stored in the refrigerator, flaxseed meal should remain fresh for four to six weeks; stored in the freezer, it should last eight to ten weeks.
Fish Oil Extracts
If your child's skin problems do not resolve using flaxseed oil, try fish-oil extract capsules. Marketed under brand names such as Max EPA, these essential fatty acids from cold-water fatty fish (preferably salmon) have a slightly different mix of EFAs and are often effective in treating diseases associated with EFA deficiency. One caveat: your child must be able to swallow this oil in capsules; it has a very unpalatable taste.
Calcium and Magnesium Combination Formula
Calcium and magnesium relax muscles, improve blood flow, soothe a keyed-up or stressed nervous system, and often decrease a child's craving for sugar. Calcium is essential for your child's growing bones and truly becomes critical should he suffer a bone fracture. In addition, a combination calcium and magnesium supplement will help your child relax and heal in any condition in which tense or aching muscles, stress, or nervousness is a factor. All the following conditions signal a need for additional calcium and magnesium: bedwetting, headache, hyperactivity, influenza, insomnia, mononucleosis, muscle or menstrual cramps, or seizures. One dose of liquid combination formula contains 250 milligrams of calcium and 125 milligrams of magnesium.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a very important antioxidant for the heart, blood lipids, and cell membranes. Pollution, sun exposure, heavy exercise, the polyunsaturated fats
 
Page 193
found in refined vegetable oilsall increase free-radical production and our need for vitamin E. In studies in which athletes were given vitamin E before strenuous exercise, they suffered less free-radical damage and less muscle soreness, and recovered faster. Applied topically, vitamin E will reduce the redness, inflammation, and skin sensitivity associated with sunburn. The RDA for vitamin E is not met by the typical American diet. The best food sources of vitamin Eunrefined vegetable oils, wheat germ, liver, and eggsare high-fat foods, making it difficult to healthfully consume protective levels of this nutrient without using supplements. Your child will love Nature's Plus carob-flavored chewable vitamin E capsules, and one given with breakfast will lessen oxidative damage from sun exposure on the ski slopes, or during those long summer days playing at the park, beach, or in your backyard. If your child should get a sunburn, prick open a capsule of vitamin E and apply gently for immediate relief and to speed healing.
Protein Powder
Just a tablespoon of protein powder a dayrice or soy-based for children sensitive or allergic to dairycan help ensure picky eaters, especially if they are picky vegetarians, get adequate, high-quality protein. Add a spoonful to oatmeal, home-baked muffins, smoothies, juice, or milk.
Brewer's Yeast
A nutritional, food-grade yeast, Brewer's is a wonderful source of B vitamins and trace minerals. Its peanutty flavor makes it a welcome addition to oatmeal, soups, and homemade muffins and cookiesor sprinkle a spoonful over lightly buttered popcorn.
Blackstrap Molasses
Organic, unsulphured blackstrap molasses is a good source of iron, especially for vegetarian children. Use blackstrap sparingly, though, because its distinctive flavor will overpower. Blackstrap tastes great in gingerbread, ginger cookies, and baked beans.
 
Page 195
APPENDIX B
A PARENT'S NATURAL HOME HEALTH KIT*
Basic Medical Supplies
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Ace bandage (don't forget the clips to secure it)
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Bandages (in a variety of sizessmall to large, round, and rectangular)
·
Gauze pads (100 percent sterile cotton)
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Clear surgical adhesive tape
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Cotton balls (100 percent sterile cotton)
·
DisinfectantAromatherapy Disinfectant Blend: In a small glass dropper bottle, mix 10 drops lavender, 10 drops eucalyptus, and 20 drops thyme. Use 10 drops of the blend in a pint of warm water in a bowl for washing. A drop of lavender or tea tree oil also can be applied directly to the bandage used to cover an abrasion. Or, in a small glass dropper bottle, combine 15 drops tea tree oil with 2 tablespoons cold-pressed, organic vegetable oil and store in refrigerator. After washing with warm water and mild soap, apply a couple of drops of this mixture directly to the abrasion and cover with a bandage.
·
Mist humidifier
·
Eye dropper (use to administer liquid medicines to infants)
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Nasal bulb syringe (use for infants and toddlers who need help clearing their sinuses)
*By contributing author Lara Pizzorno, M.A. (Div.), M.A. (Lit.), L.M.T.

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