The Drink That Gets Me Out of Bed Every Morning (And It's NOT Coffee!)

If there is such  a thing as a magic potion, mine would undoubtedly be a drink called Kefir.  I drink it on a daily basis, and it has done amazing things for my own health and the health of my children. I really want the whole world to know about it. Everyone has heard of yogurt but not very many have heard of Kefir, an ancient, cultured, enzyme-rich drink that means "feel good" in Turkish. It is the only type of dairy, besides butter made into ghee, that the kids and I seem to tolerate right now. I should add that we only drink Kefir from RAW goat's milk. The store-bought version doesn't help us. It is processed differently and is missing the number and potency of friendly bacteria strains that raw milk Kefir has. We also use goat's milk instead of cow's, because it is more readily digestible. Kefir can also be made from water, coconut water, coconut milk, and juice as well. We drink ours plain right now, and it is super tart, but it can also be sweetened and/or have fruit or peanut butter added to it and made into a delicious smoothie.

 Before the birth of my daughter, I had suffered for years with intense digestive problems starting when I turned 19. There was not a day that went by that I did not have stomach pain. Pregnancy and childbirth was the straw that broke the camel's back, and not only was my digestion shot, but my body hurt all over, and I was left with a fatigue that was hard to explain to others. I would tell my husband I was bone tired-so tired to the core that even my bones hurt. Each day started as if the one before and the one before had never ended.  While I looked ok on the outside, there was a point when it took everything in me to stand in the shower or to hold my arm up to blowdry my hair. My husband became the one to go to work and do the night feedings and every day I would have to lay on the couch while my daughter played by herself for long periods of time on the floor.  At one point, I wondered if I would be spending the rest of my life in bed deteriorating. The hardest part of all of this was, and still is, that unless you go through this particular kind of suffering it is very hard to understand. Sometimes when others cannot understand your suffering, they begin to question your sanity, and then you begin to question your own. That is a very lonely, devastating feeling that I probably wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

Doctor after doctor didn't seem to have any answers for me. I was tested for mono, my cortisol levels were tested, I tried an antidepressant for a short time until I experienced side effects, my thyroid was tested...nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Nothing but a  mother who wanted her daughter to have a mother who could take care of her. So I began to research and dig deep. I began to understand over time that my digestion was connected with my fatigue, with my concentration problems, with knees that had a hard time walking up and down steps, with mouth ulcers that occurred one after another, with moodiness, with little bumps on my legs and the back of my arms, with feeling short of breath, with shoulders that ached, with tingling in my hands and feet, recurrent vaginal infections,  etc, etc, etc. I listened to a Dr. on the radio who once said that she was taught in medical school that if a patient presented the doctor with a list of more than three problems, there was a good chance the patient was a hypochondriac. This is one reason why I have gone towards holistic medicine. Seemingly unrelated symptoms are often related! It takes a lot of detective work sometimes to figure this out.

To make a long story shorter, I first tried an anti-Candida diet. I limited my carbs and starches. I ate only certain kinds of foods. I stopped eating sugar, which was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I ate absolutely no white sugar, honey, or maple syrup, and only a limited amount of certain fruits with natural sugar.  For the first time in about 10 years, my stomach pain and bloating went away. But I still couldn't kick the fatigue. By God's grace,  I met a couple that shared some information with me that radically changed my life. I was missing probiotics and probiotic foods that were plentiful in the diets of our ancestors. They regularly ate cultured foods. They survived off of cultured foods before the refrigerator was ever invented.  I learned the amazing properties of raw milk and how important it is to fill ourselves up with beneficial bacteria. My most powerful tool in fighting illness has been the Kefir. It acts as a natural antibiotic, gives me energy, helps my tummy, keeps us regular, and is well-tolerated by two children who have milk allergies. The beneficial bacteria in Kefir consume most of the lactose and provide their own enzymes making most people who are lactose intolerant able to drink it without problem.  More on Kefir in my next post and how to make it...It's really easy! The hardest part is getting raw milk, or at the very least, milk that is not ULTRApasteurized because ultrapasteurized won't allow it to culture properly.

 

GMO'S: PART THREE

FED and MISLEAD

"This magical, marvelous food on our plate, this sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It has a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy. To eat with reckless abandon, without conscience, without knowledge; folks, this ain't normal."  ~Joel Salatin

              Today is MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO DAY. Protests are occurring all over the world by informed consumers who see a better vision for themselves and their children than what we are being fed.  Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Madeira, New Zealand, Peru, South Australia, Russia, France, and Switzerland have led the way in banning Monsanto's GMO seeds from their countries.  Fields have been burned. Those who know and understand the implications for this have started over.

                No, this definitely "ain't normal." The following devastation has been shown in animals fed GMO's:  Sterility, Reproductive Damage, Immune System Problems (and Allergen Responses), Accelerated Aging, Organ Damage, GI Problems and Potentially Precancerous Cell Growth in the Digestive Tract, Dysfunction of Cholesterol and Insulin, Mental Problems, Offspring of Mice With Hair Growing in their Mouths, Organ Lesions, and Inflamed Organs. What's even more disturbing is that in the first 90 days of studies with mice, no overt signs of disease were observed; After the first 90 days, absolutely horrific, grotesque tumors had formed. The problems that were invisible in the first generation were full-blown in the 3rd generation, and the mice starting dying off rapidly. Monsanto's response to the studies was to dismiss them, saying that the wrong rats were used.

               Where have we gone wrong? Why isn't it second nature for us to know exactly what's in our food? Why is ill health the new normal? Some of the most devastating suffering I see right now, is that our culture does not truly understand that we can advocate for ourselves. We don't have to just accept these conditions and question why God gave them to us. How quickly we question God for our sufferings, not understanding sometimes they can come from sinful man in a sinful world. We don't have to just throw our hands up in the air that cancer is the leading cause of death now in children under the age of 15 or that our tiny babies' teeth are already showing signs of decay. It doesn't have to be rocket science that if our children's bodies aren't getting enough of all the vitamins and minerals they need, sickness and disease will thrive instead of the child. Why is it a stretch for us to think about the irony of the Ronald McDonald House, but not a stretch for us to douse our children with sugar and empty nutrition? Mothers are just trying to make it day by day doing the best they can, so my goal is not to attack mothers. Monsanto is a different story.  An affiliate of Monsanto has even said that if you label GMO's, "you might as well put a skull and crossbones" on the label too. They know full well what they are doing.

                In my quest for health, I have learned that there is so much out of my control. There is a lot of conflicting, confusing information out there.  Sometimes we cannot see, because we just don't have the understanding to know what to believe.  There are several different paths a person can take. The limit is usually money, time,  and/or wisdom. It makes me think of Jesus and His time on earth and how desperate people, including myself, were and still are for a divine hand to heal their sufferings.   Healing was being touched by Him, being encompassed by Him, having Him simply lead the way and share in the sufferings of those who needed Him. The treasure was unlocked when He appeared again to His disciples; at the time all they could understand was death . Healing wasn't found in a carefully wrapped box underneath a sparkling bow, and it certainly wasn't found in a processed foods box, GMO's or not; healing was a person.  Sometimes it feels like when Jesus ascended into heaven, the healing went with Him. But His Divine hand is still guiding and leading His children to that place-that place that will be ours someday if it never comes on earth. But He left His Spirit and gave us the privilege of becoming His body. How can He heal here if we are not His voice, His hands, His feet? When it seems that God is silent, sometimes the real problem is that those whom He has given knowledge to have not shared His message of healing.  Sometimes that means shutting up about your opinions and only offering words of encouragement to someone who is hurting. Sometimes that means saying things that offend your culture but that need to be said. Sometimes healing is found in unexpected places; even through burning fields and starting over.

         

  

 

 

 

 

 

Early Miscarriage

I have always known that miscarriage caused deep suffering for the mother. I also always knew that I never wanted to have that experience, but I wanted to be able to understand what to say to a mother who had the experience. The first time I saw the suffering caused by miscarriage I was in high school. I shudder to think how insensitive I was then during this woman's experience, because I truly had no way to grasp what had happened. I just pretended like things were the same when I saw her, never fully understanding how selfish that actually was.

So now, here I am experiencing my own time to grieve. I am very grateful for so many things. It was a very, very early miscarriage. The further along the pregnancy, the harder it would be. It would be harder both emotionally and physically for me, and this is hard enough. I went through pain, but I did not have to go through intense contractions that a woman further along experiences and know that intense pain and intense joy would never have the chance to meet on earth.  I also am so thankful that this is my first experience with miscarriage. I have two children. My tears are for a third baby-for the hopes that were planted-for the sense of loss; I do not have to have tears entwined wondering if I will ever be able to know the joy of children. I have no right to complain. I am blessed beyond measure.

I know that all animals mourn loss as well; there is no shame in grieving. The hardest part of this is how surreal it has been, almost like a figment of my imagination. How just a couple weeks ago, I was shocked to find that what we were trying to avoid and had no intention of because we are not in the place to take care of another baby became implanted in my body, heart, and mind. How easy it was to wonder from that very moment if he were he or she were she. From day one, the search for a name began. And just as quickly as thoughts soared, waves crashed. The baby lost was not given the chance to form, so what does that mean? Was the cluster of forming cells and tissue just cells or will I have a baby to hold in heaven someday? This is what's hard for me to process right now. I never would want the pain of miscarrying a baby that looked like an actual baby, but at the same time I never saw a baby but have a deep sense of loss for a baby.

So the only way I could reconcile this was in a  sort-of poem. Because when Monday comes I will not be able to sit in bed and eat gluten-free brownies and coconut milk ice cream (the closest I get to being bad, because even those things make me feel sick-lol) and cry and have my husband play my part for the weekend. When Monday comes, I will purpose in my heart to look for joy and take care of the two that I DO have, who need a mother who lets them be joyful. That's the beauty of babes and small children; they see joy everywhere adults have forgotten it exists.

 

Lacking Nothing

 

If I let you go,

If I move on,

It's not because I don't love you,

Or that you aren't desperately wanted.

It's because I would never name a child of mine DISAPPOINTMENT.

I name you PURPOSE,
And let you rest peacefully with God,

Counting you as my joy.

 

 

James 1: 2-5

 

Consider it PURE JOY, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all WITHOUT FINDING FAULT, and it will be given to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love and Loss

This post is going to be RAW as those are the emotions I feel now. If you can't handle reading about miscarriage then don't read any further. Normally, I know it is foolish to put your emotions out there when you know the grieving process is just beginning, but in writing I find strength. Though my eyes are a little blinded by tears; my voice will not be shaky on the page.

Last week I found out I was pregnant with a third child. We were shocked. We were so careful. I feel like I can hardly take care of the two I have right now and myself, so how would I take care of another child? Plus, my children and I have so many needs. Sometimes I wish I could have the cares of the average Mom (or the Mom I picture in my head). Instead, there are so many times I have almost burst into tears in the grocery store. The pressure is suffocating. I feel trapped in a prison, because my children seem to react to most everything that goes into their mouths. I feel like I have to have their diets perfect, because so so so much I want them to be healthy and well.  I am like the woman who just wants to get a piece of that cloak; I would do anything just to touch a piece of that cloak. Even the ice cream truck makes me sad. All the little joys of childhood are now tainted, because now I know the truth.  With so little that I and my children can eat, I get hungry for heaven. I get hungry for a safe place. I get hungry for the place where the lamb will not be afraid of the wolf, where the lion will eat straw, where babies will put their hands on the snake's nest and no harm will come to them.

A third baby brought excitement but deep solemnity. All our finances get poured into health, because I know that if you don't have your health, aside from God, you have nothing. I never want to become a burden.  I chose not to tell family for several reasons, one being that I did not want to worry anyone. I have a very, very hard time with my health after the deliveries.  Also, I nursed my son round the clock every one or two hours for an entire year, because in my heart I knew it was the best chance for him to thrive, ignoring the looks of disgust from others from doing so. The LORD gave me a deep strength through that and a joyous bond with my son that no one can ever take away from me. To bring another baby into the world with all of these struggles though would make me feel guilty. It takes three-four years for a mother to build back her nutrient stores from pregnancy. The baby's heart is often formed before the mother even knows that she is pregnant. I am so passionate about children being well-nourished.  We live in a society that thinks Cheerios will do it, and there is nothing further from the truth. There were just so many emotions! I had planned to really focus in on my daughter with attention and homeschooling, because my son's needs were higher for a long time. I had also planned to get us all on the same page with something called the Gaps Intro Diet and really work on healing my babies' bellies, and that in itself is a full-time job.

Still, of course I would welcome a new baby in a heartbeat.  And I began to think of names. And take delight in the idea of a family of 5. 

The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name  of the LORD. Why am I choosing to write when I am smack dab in the middle of a miscarriage? Because this is my opportunity to have my say. Because I try to keep an open mind and respect others, all the while being disrespected myself and thought of as crazy.  I am one of those "stubborn" people who doesn't go to the doctor. One of those people who is learning to make her own cleaners and beauty products, products that couldn't possibly work as well as the chemicals.  I am one of those "careless"  people who doesn't vaccinate her children. I am to be feared, because I am the enemy. No matter my circumstances, no matter all that I have researched, all the voices of suffering I have listened to, all that I have learned, not only am I putting my children in danger, I am putting YOUR children and the rest of society in danger. I am depriving my own children of opportunities when I homeschool. They will be sheltered and unsocialized.  I don't go for the drugs, but I research and research and research the amazing properties of plants and herbs and nutrition to try and build up, instead of tear down. I am arrogant, because I think I could possibly have any answers for the babies that I put down to sleep every night instead of letting the doctor decide our fate in every circumstance.  I am the witch doctor. This is my opportunity to shout in my isolation, because right now my anger won't let me worry about being offensive, and I seldom feel that luxury. Be careful who you treat as lepers, as uneducated, as irresponsible. Be careful who you leave out in the cold, because you may never know the warmth that lights their souls.

Because yet again, the medical system has reaffirmed the path that I, in my "eccentricity", have been walking. When there is a woman who walks into an office while she is having a miscarriage for an appointment that was scheduled a couple days earlier by an ER doctor (Was told to go to the ER, and spent five hours there with two children, because no other doctors could take her that she called that day as well)....And that woman is told that the doctor is not accepting any new patients and the 10:00 am scheduling must have been some mistake, what do you expect her to do?

Because honey, it forsakes all "modern wisdom" to pick your emotionally frail self up and boldly walk right out that door, and know that you are going to be okay. You got confirmation earlier it was NOT a potentially life-threatening  ectopic pregnancy , and you know your body and you've been through this before, even though this is your first miscarriage. And you know that if someone came to you with a miscarriage, you would reach out a hand of compassion to them and nurture them with love. And if they can't offer that to you, then it is their loss. They have lost far more than you just have.  Once again, the doctor was not in for you. This is nothing new for you.

Your body could not sustain a baby, and that will make you sad and you will see families of five and tears will well up in your eyes for a little while. But you know you have been through so much, and that you are so blessed, because there are women who would do anything just to be able to bear children at all, and you have two who just this morning were picking flowers and making soup out of dirt reminding you of the joys of motherhood that might never have been but are here in this moment for you to cherish.  This is not a tragedy. The little spirit that was brewing is with God in the place where women who have suffered silently in desperate want will hold babies forever that were tragically unwanted. Everything will be restored.  There will be grief, but there is a deep peace in knowing  the timing was not right.

 Your body could not sustain a baby, but your body has its own rhythm and you have learned to listen to it. The signs were there all along. You knew that when you were nesting that is what mothers naturally do at the end of a pregnancy. You know your body is in a state of cleansing. You are not hungry. It is all natural for the time and good. You don't need a blood test to tell you if the pregnancy is still progressing; you have the confirmation you need. You will research again and find natural ways to help your body with the process and learn the beauty in letting go. You are on your own again, but you know your gain is strength and wisdom.  There is a Divine Healer who is always in-His Name is Love. He doesn't question the path you walk; He is the path.


Update: I wrote this right after coming back from the doctor after I had miscarried by myself at home. If this post angers you, know that I believe doctors are needed, that there are many sacrificing, wonderful doctors who deserve much more credit than they have been given. The doctor and nurses I saw in the ER were wonderful.  But I will not apologize for being angered at the system, at the financial greed behind the system, a system that bandages the eyes and ties the hands and feet of laboring mothers who were meant to be amazed at the strength and wonder of the individual human body, not afraid of it and left powerless.
 

GMO's: PART TWO

In my last post I talked a little bit about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's) and who is responsible for placing them into our food supply. What we put into and on our bodies is so crucial to our health, and it is unfathomable that the same company that is responsible for Agent Orange and the pesticide DDT has had so much power over our food supply and way of thinking.  Part Two talks a little about what they actually are and where they are found. Part Three- still to be posted, will talk about why I believe they are a poison to our health and what limited studies that have been conducted have shown.

 
                            My baby boy with swollen eye, after having an allergic reaction.
                                                            

WHAT, WHEN, WHERE:

List of Foods that Currently Are Genetically Modified:

·         80% of CORN (straight up corn, cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup, livestock feed)

·         92% of SOY 

·         SUGAR BEETS

·         CANOLA

·         ALFALFA

·         ZUCCHINI

·         YELLOW CROOKNECK SQUASH

·         PAPAYA grown in Hawaii or China

At first glance it is easy to look at this list, and think, "Well, I hardly eat any of those." So if that was your first thought, please, please do me a favor and go through your pantry, fridge, and freezer. You might be surprised at how many of your foods have some kind of corn product or soy in them. Even many health food store items have canola oil listed as an ingredient. 
 
Cotton is another product that has been genetically modified. There is an account of workers in India who developed rashes all over their bodies just from picking genetically modified cotton.  Thousands of animals died from grazing on the cotton and mass numbers of farmers have committed suicide, after facing the loss of their farms. The seed companies somehow come out unscathed, while widespread devastation is occurring.

So what exactly are GMO's?

Genetically modified organisms are genes from bacteria or viruses forced into the DNA of other species. For example, soybeans have been modified with bacteria, so they can survive being sprayed with Roundup.  Monsanto is also responsible for rBGH (recombinant growth hormone), an artificial hormone that has been injected into cows, so they will produce more milk. This particular hormone was made with genetically engineered E.coli bacteria.

At times it seems we are living in a science fiction novel. Some of the more bizarre forms of genetically modified organisms have been glow-in-the-dark cats, cabbages injected with scorpion poison that kills caterpillars, bananas with vaccines inserted into them, "Enviropigs",  goats that produce spider web protein in their milk, salmon that grows twice as fast, trees altered to grow faster,  and chickens with human genes added to their DNA to produce disease-fighting compounds.

Plants that fight pollution, foods that fight diseases, web material from goats that could be used in various ways to make parachute cords, artificial limbs, and so on, trees that can withstand freezing temperatures, medicinal eggs-all seemingly noble aspirations. This is science at its best, right?! Not so fast.

Take for example the rBGH hormone that has been injected in some of our milk to increase cows' milking capabilities. The US was the only developed country to allow this particular hormone into the dairy supply. When other countries realized it made their cows weak and sick they would not allow it. Studies have shown that it elevated hormone levels associated with breast, prostate, and colon cancer. The US response was to inject the cows with antibiotics and drugs, so not only were Americans drinking milk from sick cows, they were ingesting the same hormones, antibiotics and drugs the cows were given.

Americans were not informed of these changes when they first began, but European mothers were advised to avoid GMO foods during their pregnancies and other countries have banned these foods as well ! in 1996, GMO's were sneakily placed into American foods without any notice or consumer warning. In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency wanted to conduct a study called, "GMO's cause Food Allergies." One would think the average businessman would want to test out their product, know its performance before putting it on the market, and ensure the success of the product for its customers. Monsanto and our government are obviously not the average businessman.

Another potentially health-damaging GMO food is soy. Touted as a health food,  even non-GMO soy is extremely hard to digest. Asian cultures that consume soy do not consume it in large quantities; it is either used as a condiment or it goes through a long fermentation process to make foods such as miso or natto to make it more digestible. The American Soybean Association has stated that "Soy is nondigestible in animals with only one stomach." So what does that mean for us? GMO soy actually increases something called a trypsin inhibitor, making it even harder for our bodies to process than non-GMO soy, which is already a problem unless it is properly prepared. 1998 was the year that Genetically Modified Soy was introduced in the UK. That same year, the rate of soy allergies soared to 50%. Mothers often wonder why peanut allergies were once almost unheard of, and now schools across the US are implementing peanut-free cafeterias. No one I've ever come across has ever had an answer for this, until now. The "crazy" scientists and researchers who are trying to warn us of GMO foods, have made a connection that there a lot of parallels between the structure of peanuts and soy. Peanuts are also often rotated with GMO cotton crops, some of the most heavily pesticide -doused crops out there.  Between 1997 and 2002, we saw a doubling of peanut allergies.

I have become interested in knowing what's in our food supply through having my own health almost devastated, and through observing the effects of own my health deterioration pass onto my children. The above photo is of my son, when he had a severe allergic cross-reaction to nuts in a snack that said "Nut-free" on the package, at of all places, Whole Foods. The pictures show the aftermath, when he is happy again. They do not show how badly swollen his face was when the reaction started, or him vomiting, or being lethargic, or the faces of concerned parents wondering if we should rush him to the hospital. I think GMO's are just a piece of the puzzle for us, but they are a piece nonetheless. 

So is this piece useless, for those of you without any "known" allergies? Certainly not!

We live in a free nation. "Free" to let others make decisions for our food for us or free to question why there is:

A 400% increase in allergies

A 300% increase in asthma

A 400% increase in ADHD

1 in 3 Caucasian kids and 1 in 2 minority kids expected to be insulin-dependent by the time they reach adulthood.

Cancer as the leading cause of death in children under the age of 15 (according to the CDC)

 

And why our Golden Years, if we make it there, are starting to take on more of an agent orangish hue than golden?

 

 

LORD BLESS THIS FOOD TO OUR BODIES

GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS: PART ONE

 

WHO:

Who is behind GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms)?

MONSANTO is a chemical company with a history of chemical products used in weed killers and the Vietnam War. Yes, that's right; I'm talking about the same company who produced Agent Orange and the Pesticide DDT. DDT was outlawed at the same time Polio began to disappear.  Coincidence that DDT poisoning and polio share the same symptoms?  Monsanto  is responsible for 90% of GMO's. They sell chemicals and seeds, seeds which now only work with certain chemicals. Some seeds are becoming more resistant and need higher doses of chemicals. Some seeds don't need sprayed, because they have toxic insecticides built right into their very DNA. A "gene-sized spray bottle" that causes the stomachs of insects to explode, not exactly your 5-star dining experience.

THE FDA (Our Food and Drug Administration)  has ties with Monsanto. Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense under both President Ford and President George W. Bush,  is just one example of how our government  and Monsanto are inextricably linked. Rumsfeld was also the President at one time of the company that is now known as Monsanto and led the legalization of Aspartame, an artificial sweetener that when studied produced such blatantly disastrous results, the FDA denied its approval 16 times.

President Obama recently signed a provision protecting genetically modified seeds from litigation against any health complaints. According to a statement made in 1998 by Monsanto, assuring biotech food's safety is the job of the FDA. According to the FDA, the food producer is the one who is responsible for assuring food safety.

So let's do this again...

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS?

We are! Because we are on our own and once you understand the implications of GMO's on your own health and the health of your children and grandchildren you will NOT want them to be a part of your food supply. At least I hope not. Your government is not your advocate. Your health department is not your advocate, as seen today in the articles circulating about the murderous practices of abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell.  You are the health advocate for yourself and your children.  It wasn't until I began to realize this that I found the beauty in ancient wisdom and nature and began to regain my health and the health of my children. I took it all for granted before, and I have suffered dearly for it. God wants to be our advocate as well. Some have the perspective that we need to submit to those above us who make the choices for our health and food. But I do not believe these  foods are of God. These foods are man's tainted creation; we are taking God's food and making it into a poison and if we are unwilling to connect the link between what we put into our bodies and our health, then we better keep praying the prayer "Lord, bless this food to our bodies." Because we're going to need it desperately.

 Resources:

Robyn O'Brien-Generation Rx, The Unhealthy Truth, "The Healthy Life Summit"

Jeffrey Smith-Seeds of Deception, Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of Our Lives, "The Healthy Life Summit"

Quoted in the New York Times Magazine (October 25, 1998, “Playing God in the Garden”), Philip Angell, Monsanto’s director of corporate communications, famously stated: “Monsanto shouldn’t have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.”

From the Federal Register, Volume 57, No.104, “Statement of [FDA] Policy: Foods Derived from New Plant Varieties,” here is what the FDA had to say on this matter: “Ultimately, it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety.”

 

 

 

The Inconceivable

This is not a world I wanted to live in. I was blissfully curled up, swallowing what was offered to me.  I rocked and swayed with the calm waters surrounding me.  I knew a steady beat that sustained me, and in it I found peace. I never went without a hug. I never knew what it was to be cold.

19 was the magic number. At 19 I was unwillingly forced into the beginnings of a time I selfishly thought was reserved for the elderly. For the 91. Not the 19.

Pain can change it all in an instant.  At times I feel like I am enclosed in on all sides, struggling to breathe, struggling to eat.  I can't say I really like it out here. People on high offer me lies and deception. But I am no longer able to swallow what's been placed in front of me. Somewhere along the way, I started to realize it was a poison.  It's part of the reason I cannot eat most dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, most nuts, grains, sugar, or anything processed. I did not figure out how to manage autoimmune disease overnight-longsuffering was  the teacher. And a God-given determination to do whatever it takes to be able to take care of my children. Children will do that. They will give you a strength you never knew you had, and each morning when they meet you like the rising sun, the only thing left on your pillow is an imprint of your bravest face.

Those calm waters have been emptied out. I ride the waves of new ones. Waters that harbor chlorine, heavy metals, parasites, and flouride. Flouride? The flouride that was the source of my envy in 1st grade, when the special children would luckily line up for their daily dose of pink. But now it is coming to light that all the pretty, pink pills harbor ugly, dark secrets. And how could I judge anyone if they disagreed with me, thought I was oversensitive, or mistaken? I only ended up on the other side of the fence, because the horse bucked me off. But what man intends for evil, God has shown that he can turn around and intend for good. And through going through times when every.single.thing I put in my body made me instantly feel sick, I now know this-one of the reasons I was born, is to follow my broken gut. How ironic it is that God heals through brokenness.  And although this is something I would not normally care to admit, I am so very thankful He has made me weak. Otherwise, how would I ever know what it is to be held up by Him, as we walk across these waters.

The sounds are no longer steady and reassuring, like that heartbeat. The hushes have been replaced with a shrill cacophony of words that hurt, that sometimes leave me dazed and shivering in the cold. The soothing familiar has been replaced with words that remind me this journey is my own.  And although I often walk alone not readily understood, I have a heavenly compass helping my body find its way in the dark. These are not the popular pathways I traverse. Trading modern medicine that had nothing left to offer me for the most part for ancient wisdom, finding healing through food and plants, relearning not only how to eat, but to bathe and brush my teeth and take care of my children, not leaving my newborn to "cry it out," but attending to his every cry, nursing on demand, co-sleeping, deciding against vaccination for my children can evoke strong reactions and fears in others, emotions hard for both them and myself. But now that I know different, I cherish the miraculous fruits that have come even still from a diseased plant.  When there was no one to hear my fighting cry or the cries of my children, I learned to listen to my gut instinct and advocate unapologetically. Like the newborn baby, my vision is dark and dim, but I can see enough to know that I have been birthed in a toxic world. For the sake of my children and my children's children I cannot go back to the place I once knew-the place once familiar that no longer has the ability or purpose to sustain life or growth. I must trust the One who brought me here to feed us, bathe us, and clothe us. And He relentlessly does each of those for the soul. The hard part of faith is trusting that when the physical gives way, His provisions for the soul are more than enough.

 

The nurses, although lovely, will not do. Like the newly birthed baby, I only need to be held by God.

 

The only promise the world seems able to offer us is  not a womb of security but a dark tomb of death and deceit.  So roll that stone away! In times of darkness I can smile a first smile and laugh a first laugh at the days to come. I can walk and not grow weary. In childlike wonder I can run and soar and speak new words of joy.  Because He rose above my sorrows.

 

 

 

"None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'--the things God has prepared for those who love him--these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2: 8-10