Super Moon Sat. March 19th!

Here is a great little video to share with the kids and then get outside at "moon rise" tomorrow (Sat) night to experience the first super moon since 1983!

Diet Instead of Drugs, May Help Kids with ADHD

It is now being learned, that a high percentage of children diagnosed with ADHD are simply experiencing a hypersensivity to food. Remove the reactive food and you remove the cause of "dis-ease", and find a sense of "ease" again.

Here is an excerpt of a great article by NPR regarding the study.

Kids with ADHD can be restless and difficult to handle. Many of them are treated with drugs, but a new study says food may be the key. Published in The Lancet journal, the study suggests that with a very restrictive diet, kids with ADHD could experience a significant reduction in symptoms.

The study's lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands, writes in The Lancet that the disorder is triggered in many cases by external factors — and those can be treated through changes to one's environment. ...

According to Pelsser, 64 percent of children diagnosed with ADHD are actually experiencing a hypersensitivity to food. Researchers determined that by starting kids on a very elaborate diet, then restricting it over a few weeks' time. ...

But diet is not the solution for all children with ADHD, Pelsser cautions.

"In all children, we should start with diet research," she says. If a child's behavior doesn't change, then drugs may still be necessary. "But now we are giving them all drugs, and I think that's a huge mistake," she says. ...

"We have got good news — that food is the main cause of ADHD," she says. "We've got bad news — that we have to train physicians to monitor this procedure because it cannot be done by a physician who is not trained."

[Read full NPR Article: Study: Diet May Help ADHD Kids More Than Drugs: 3/12/11]

Read the study in The Lancet

Feeding Kids Salads

Give kids a chance to like fresh, living foods. Beyond the regular finger foods of carrot and celery sticks, expose them to tasty salads. It's ok. Let them play with their food. The other night I served my 6-year-old some rice pasta and marinara sauce along with a small bowel of cabbage, carrot, and cilantro salad (no dressing). After only 2 bites of the pasta, she literally pushed her bowl aside and grabbed her bowl of salad. Gobbled it down and had 2 more helpings! This is now one of her favorites! "I could sing my mouth is so happy!" she told me.

So how do you get kids to like living salads?

• Expose them to the salad at high-hungry times (after physical activities, snack times, before meals). So what if they fill up before dinner... it's the best thing they can eat!
• Eat living salads yourself, and often (do as I do, not as I say)
• Make games of it: "Are you a rabbit?? Here's your munchy, crunchy meal!"
• Ask them intriguing questions: "Can you tell the difference between the red and green cabbage?"
• Constant exposure pays off. It may take 1 or 250 times before they'll try it, but persistence pays off, especially when they are hungry. It becomes a "known factor" to them. So keep it visible!
• Be Creative and let them gravitate towards their natural instincts to eat living food.

Healthy Halloween Treat

- From RawMom.com

If you don't want to give sugary 'treats' to the little angels and goblins knocking at your door - why not have some fun with your kids making these cute little guys.

Ingredients are per 'pumpkin'

1 clementine
12x12 square cling wrap
1" clear tape
scraps of felt, cut for eyes , nose, mouth, or googly eyes:)
twist tie
silk ivy leaf
green floral tape
glue, if not using self stick felt or googly eyes

Preparation:

1. Wrap clementine in cling film and twist tightly.
2. Secure at top with clear tape.
3. Cover clear tape with green floral tape, snip to desired length.
4. Attach ivy leaf to twist tie with floral tape, cover entire length of tie with tape.
5. Twist leaf/tie around stem as desired.
6. Apply face as desired.

Note: choose self-stick felt for really little children. This is a great one to have the kids make with you...they create the cutest faces!

(Thanks to RawMom.com for this great idea. Click here for some other fun Halloween treats).

GM Foods Dangerous to Children

Excerpts from Mercola.com.

“Swapping genes between organisms can produce unknown toxic effects and allergies that are most likely to affect children.”

--Vyvyan Howard, expert in infant toxico-pathology at Liverpool University Hospital, United Kingdom

An FAO/WHO task force on GM food said that “Attention should be paid to the particular physiological characteristics and metabolic requirements of specific population subgroups, such as infants [and] children.”

In practice, GM safety assessments ignore them.

In fact, industry-funded studies often use mature animals instead of the more sensitive young ones, in order to mask results. Biologist David Schubert warns:

“Since children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems, if the GM food is given to them without proper testing, they will be the experimental animals. If there are problems, we will probably never know because the cause will not be traceable and many diseases take a very long time to develop.”

To learn more about the health dangers of GMOs, and what you can do to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply, visit www.ResponsibleTechnology.org.

To learn how to choose healthier non-GMO brands, visit www.NonGMOShoppingGuide.com.

{Read Full Article}

Motherhood: The Skill Builder

Staying at home to be a mother/father doesn't mean we have to loose our mental sharpness in the world. It is skill building time and allows challenges and opportunities to grow in ways only parenthood can provide.

Here's an excerpt from a great article by Joanne Stern, "Does Motherhood Make You Stupid?"

Motherhood is a powerful training ground for leadership skills. The good news is that every day at home with your kids you are given multiple opportunities to practice being a better leader—IF you notice these opportunities and train yourself to take advantage of them. At home you’re in an environment where you won’t get fired if you screw up. And you get instant results because you can immediately see how well your strategies work with your kids by how they respond to you. Parenting is, arguably, like getting an alternate MBA. So instead of merely slogging through each day putting out fires, squashing conflicts and completing menial jobs until exhaustion overtakes you, open your mind to a higher goal. At home you are the CEO of a small business, and the lessons you learn there not only make you smarter, but they also transfer to your office, making you a more valuable manager at work.

Let’s take just three of the important leadership skills you can strengthen with your kids that will make you a better mom at home and a better manager in your workplace.

1. Building trust

A work environment where people trust each other is essential for people to do their best and most creative work. Otherwise employees are reluctant to offer their greatest ideas or to do more than they’re asked, for fear of making a mistake and being judged. Mindful moms can strengthen their skill of trust building at home.

Create a safe haven for your kids to share their problems and their fears, and then treat their feelings with sensitivity, compassion and respect. Make it easy for your kids to tell you the truth, knowing that it takes great courage to fess up. These are basic guidelines for developing a positive relationship with people in any environment.

Here’s an example. Let’s say your six-year-old sneaks a forbidden cookie from the jar. Rather than accusing him of a misbehavior or theft, let him know up front that you saw him take it, but that you understand how tempting it must have been. You can teach him to tell the truth by taking away his chance to lie about it. It’s okay to impose a consequence, but focus on how much you value and appreciate his honesty. Everyone benefits because you develop a fair, genuine, honest environment at home, and you feel more confident to apply the same principles at work.

Read the whole article:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/does-motherhood-make-you-stupid.html

Neophobics: Picky Eaters

This is an excellent article about how even our best intentions, modeling, and exposures can still be met by our little Neophobics (Picky Eaters). Patience and keeping on our path are still worthwhile pursuits. Hang in there and you'll be quietly high-fiving too!

Neophobia 101: When picky eaters confound Ethicureanish intentions.