My Wintertime Health Pantry: Activated Charcoal

Viruses abound. Especially if you have several children in the house and they like to share.

If one of my kids gets a stomach bug, it will invariably make the rounds of all of us before it's all said and done. But I've decided to fight back!

My favorite weapon against stomach viruses is activated charcoal.

Activated charcoal is pure carbon specially processed to make it highly adsorbent of particles and gases in the body's digestive system. Activated charcoal has often been used since ancient times to cure a variety of ailments including poisoning. Its healing effects have been well documented since as early as 1550 B.C. by the Egyptians.

It is GREAT to have on hand for kids because it can be used if you are concerned your child has overdosed on a chemical cleaner or an over-the-counter medicine. You can even mix it with water to make a paste to apply topically to bug stings or bites. Activated charcoal has even been used effectively in the treatment of snake bites.

It's one of the "right hand warriors" in my health pantry. So, when my four-year-old recently started throwing up and having stomach cramps and diarrhea, I whipped it out and instructed everyone to take some charcoal with their Emergen-C. Paul and I took two a day and the kids each took one.

No one argued with me. I guess they've learned over the years that stomach bugs are no fun!

Since the charcoal is very black and powdery, I camoflauged it as best I could for my two-year-old in some Activia yogurt (Activia is boosted with probiotic). He took it fine. My four-year-old balked a bit, but took it ok a half capsule at a time in the yogurt. It is odorless and tasteless as a capsule.

The quicker you can start activated charcoal once you've been exposed to something or start showing symptoms, the better.

Here's to a year free of stomach bugs!!

My Health Pantry: Juicing

Juicing is, in my opinion, one of the fastest and most efficient ways of getting concentrated nutrients into your sweet body pronto!

I often juice as I am fasting (called a juice fast) because fresh juices are great cleansers and help the body heal very quickly from what ails it. The power-packed nutrition is very satisfying as well and feels like your insides are getting treated to a day at the spa!

I love the flavor of freshly-juiced fruits, but keep in mind that a little of these goes a long way because of the concentrated, natural sugars. Let the bulk of your juicing be fresh veggies such as carrots or any green vegetable.

When I was pregnant with my second child, I daily drank 32 ounces or more of organic carrot juice + one green veggie. My favorites were celery, kale, cucumber or green bell pepper. Spinach actually wasn't too bad either. The green helped balance the sugary-ness of the carrots. Oh, and I often tossed in an apple as well. Yum.

When my son was born, my midwife could not get over how healthy the placenta was. She said she'd NEVER seen anything like it and was absolutely amazed. I attribute that primarily to the juicing.

I truly believe that if your health is in crisis, juicing is a powerful start to healing. And a great addition to any wintertime health pantry!

My Health Pantry: Fasting

One of the greatest tips I ever learned doesn't cost a penny.

Fasting every so often is a blessing to your health and makes you feel like a million bucks.

Stormie O'Martian wrote a little book on fasting that was inspirational and very informative to me. I read it several years ago and what I read in there still impacts my life today.

So, during this holiday season that is full of sugars and fats that can weigh you down and weaken your immune system, consider a short fast to "clean your house" and start your new year off right!

My Health Pantry: Emergen-C

One of the staples of our wintertime health pantry is good ol' Vitamin C.

We've tried different Vitamin-C brands over the years, and we finally found one that all of my kids really like: Emergen-C.

Emergen-c is Vitamin-C plus a whole lot more good for you. First, they start with a whopping 1,000 milligrams of non-acidic Vitamin-C, which your body will appreciate. Then they add 32 minerals and electrolytes. Then they throw in B1, B2, B3, B6 and B12 for energy.

The result is a tasty little powder that you pour into filtered water for a non-carbonated health and energy boost. My kids love the raspberry and ruby lemon honey flavors the best. And I am able to easily find Emergen-C at my local Walmart and Kroger stores, which I love.

Each box of Emergen-C packets costs under $10 in my area, which makes it one of the more affordable ways to get good stuff down my kids, and I really love that!

Hey--check out The Emergen-C web site to see the latest product for kids, by kids: Emergen-C Kidz complete multi-vitamin!! I just discovered this new product while writing this blog. I really like the fact that each packet has 24 essential nutrients, plus choline for healthy brain function. My kids loved the cool names like: Strawnanaberry Blast, Orange Pineapple Explosion, and Cherry Yumberry. Sounds like a winner to me!

I believe you will be as pleased as we have been with the health and energy boost that you experience with only one little packet of Emergen-C a day. Cheers to the FIZZ!

My Wintertime Health Pantry

My friends are always asking me what I keep on hand in my "health pantry" to fight the terrible winter sicknesses that take so many people down.

I've got to be honest, with a family of seven (soon to be eight in the spring!!), we don't always escape the sicknesses through an entire "sick season," so please don't think we're perfect in this area. A lot of factors go into your family's wellness.

But with a little planning and determination, I believe that we can avoid most of the yuck and get better quicker if something does catch us.

Over the next few weeks, I will take you through my winter health pantry and highlight some of my favorite products. Some of these products I sell (why not sell what you love and get a discount for it, right?) and some of them I just love. Someday, I hope to have a virtual health store where I have physical backstock that people can buy from, but for now that's still in the dream stage, so we'll work with what we have.

I pray this trip through my health pantry blesses your family and helps you kick up your heels this winter!

The Quickest, Easiest Way to Get More Vitamins in Your Kids

One of the quickest, easiest ways to boost the health of your family starts at your dinner table.

At each meal serve at least one raw fruit or vegetable. It's that easy!

Serve fruits and veggies that your kids like. Some of the sure-fire winners around our house are:

* baby carrots
* sliced tomatoes (especially from someone's garden)

* organic broccoli tops (soooo much tastier than non-organic)

* chunky slices of crisp cucumber

* bananas

* pears

* kiwi, sliced thin

* fresh strawberries

Do your kids not like raw fruits and veggies? Do not despair. How many of us like the things that are GOOD for us the first time around? Be persistent and don't be pushy. Just keep offering it at the table with each meal and eventually, they try it.

When we first started this, I made a "temporary" rule that they had to put at least one raw thing on their plate at each meal. It might be one baby carrot, but it was a start. Now, even my pickiest eaters like their veggies!

Serving one raw fruit or veggie at each meal not only boosts kids' immune systems and pumps their bodies full of natural vitamins, but it also trains them to build healthy habits right from home, starting at the dinner table.

You are What You Eat. . . and More

This is so true!


Food-artist Joshua gets creative with chickpeas and baby carrots.

I believe that watching what we put into our mouths at our house has been one of the greatest factors in us being able to stay out of the doctors' offices.

For a few years, I went vegan. A vegan is someone who chooses not to eat any animal products (I didn't even eat eggs for awhile--that made it very challenging to bake!). So, the Fagalas ate a lot of tofu dishes and veggie dishes and delicious exotic grains like couscous and kamut. I lost weight that I didn't want and a little more. My skin glowed and I had tons of energy. I felt wonderful and always revert to this diet during times that illness does strike.

After a couple of years, though, the Lord led me to re-introduce organic meat into our diet. But I learned a lot about healthy eating during those vegan years that has stuck with me.

Make even one of these "simple" changes I learned during my vegan years and you should see improvements in your family's health right away:

* Cut out the dairy!
It is the prime culprit of sinus infections and ear infections and congestion. If you can't forsake the cheese, choose aged cheeses, like real parmesan or romano, or give goat milk-based feta a try.

*Replace cow milk with soy or rice milk.
I hear studies are linking soy with estrogen issues, so rice may be a safer option for many women. My favorite milk brands are Rice Dream Vanilla, Very Vanilla Silk and 8th Continent Vanilla. Soy milk is better for baking and gravies.

* Say no to sugar!!
This one is my hardest one. I have a mega-sweet tooth inherited from my daddy. Thanks, Daddy! :-) If this is hard for you, too, save your sweet treat for after dinner only and keep it small. I would say eat a piece of fruit when you're craving chocolate, but that never worked for me. Dessert is very emotional.

* Eat organic meat and eggs
I belong to a meat co-op where we order reasonably-priced chicken and turkey and beef every two months. Many stores are carrying healthier meats like Nolan Ryan's beef if you don't live near someone who coordinates a co-op.

* Supplements
We have a constant stash of vitamins, minerals and supplements (like BarleyLife) on hand at all times. We daily turn to our supplement cabinet the way many turn to their medicine cabinet.

* Exercise and Good Rest
I just started exercising. This does not come easy for me, so I work out on our Total Gym (a hand-me-down from my parents--Thanks Mama and Daddy!) before I ever leave my room in the morning. Good rest is easy--go to bed at a decent hour, especially if you have young children or have to get up early to go to work. People used to go to bed when the sun went down. I like to go to bed by 9 pm, and I feel so much better when I do.

Ok, that's enough for now. That's plenty to work on. But remember, try just one thing at a time until it is a habit, then work on another one.

Now, as for me. . . it's past my bedtime!

FEVER

The very word strikes fear in many parents' hearts. . . FEVER. This is one of the most-asked questions of me: "What do you do for fever?" Here's my answer in a nutshell.

The first, and most important thing is, I don't freak out over fever. I see fever as a blessing--it is a good thing and means that the body is taking care of business. Our children's bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made and those little bodies know when there is an invader that needs to be ousted. Fever means things are working as they should.

Maybe once or twice ever has one of my children had a fever spike to 106 degrees. And even when it did, it didn't stay there long. Most of the time, my kids' fevers hover around 101-103 degrees for a couple of days.

Now, here's my line of defense during times of fever to keep my children as comfortable as possible and still let the fever work its magic:

1. Boost the immune system--work with the fever. Be its comrade and help it fight off the invader. I use whatever I happen to have on hand. Some of my favorite boosters are EmergenC (Vitamin C), BarleyLife, carrot juice, lots of pure water, Del-Immune, cutting out all sugar and dairy until the fever is over, increasing fresh fruits and vegetables (if they even feel like eating), encouraging lots of rest, and echinacea. I know there are even more natural solutions, but these are the ones we use the most.

2. Tepid baths--a lukewarm bath feels so good on a fevered body and is often all it takes to "break" the fever in my babies and begin to bring their temperature back down to normal. Also, for an infant, I nurse him or her more frequently. Mama's milk is such a God-given gift of natural anitbodies and wellness for our littlest ones. And it's deliciously FREE!

3. Teething tablets--sometimes the fevers in children are from teething (even at two years old when they get their molars in). This year I discovered Humphrey's Very Cherry Teething Tablets, and they have been very effective for my baby's fevers. With infants, it's so hard to know sometimes exactly what's causing the fever. I have found that these homeopathic teething tablets are very effective no matter what the cause of the fever is. I found mine at Walgreens and they are under $10 and last a long time. As with any medicine, I don't give it unless it's really needed, otherwise it doesn't seem to work as well. In other words, don't overdo it. Medicine is a tool, not a crutch.

4. Tylenol--I save this for the times that the fever has lingered for 36 hours or more without coming down at all and the child cannot rest. This doesn't happen very often around here; probably because of our faithfulness to number one on this list (boosting their immune system). But from time to time an over-the-counter medicine is needed. My rule of thumb for over-the-counter drugs is: use 1/2 the amount the directions say to. I have found that if we aren't used to popping a pill for every little pain, then when we really DO need to take something, it doesn't take nearly as much to get the job done.

Now, I don't think I need to say this, but I will anyway: I am not a medical professional and you know your child best. If my child had a fever that spiked very high, very quickly and I could not get it to start coming down with natural remedies or it was accompanied by throwing up or something else very unusual, I would not hesitate to seek medical help right away. You know your child best and what is normal and what is not. Plus, we have the good Lord, the Great Physician, to guide us and give us wisdom in how to handle our children's fevers. So, there is no need to fear fever. And that is definitely good news!