Last week, CBS channel 4 visited my house to film my best tips for keeping your house flu- and sickness-free. This follows my series over the last month or two of flu avoidance, prevention and treatment strategies.
It was fun, and I hope you find it useful as we make our way toward the end of cold and flu season!
http://denver.cbsloctional.com/2013/02/06/take-every-day-steps-to-avoid-coming-down-with-the-flu/
Last night I had a hankering for pesto.
I fell in love with pesto during the year I spent eating my way through Italy, and my friend Gregorio taught me the simple formula for a delicious pesto out of a variety of ingredients rather than just the traditional ones.
Traditionally, pesto involves toasted and crushed pine nuts blended together with fresh basil, garlic, freshly grated Parmesano Reggiano cheese, salt, and extra virgin olive oil. Folded into steaming al dente pasta, the green mixture melts slightly, coating the pasta in a heavenly fusion of flavor.
It was Gregorio who showed me that you could make your pesto with spinach leaves as well as, or even instead of, basil, or use pistachios in place of pine nuts. I’d like to think I’ve been running amok with pestos ever since. Un bacio, mi amico.
Here was my pesto recipe last night, garlic-free because of my garlic-sensitive son, and topping spelt macaroni, which is not strictly gluten-free, but is wheat-free, which works well for us. Try Tinkyada brown rice elbows for a truly gluten-free option.
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Spread nuts on a baking sheet and place in a 300 F degree oven until slightly browned and toasted-smelling. Allow to cool, then pulse in a food processor until the consistency of sandy gravel.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil for pasta. Drop the kale in the boiling water and boil until softened, about 5 minutes. Strain kale from water using a slotted spoon and transfer to the food processor. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. of sea salt or more to taste. Run the processor while drizzling olive oil in until it forms a runny wet paste.
Add the dry pasta to the hot water; some nutrients leached from the kale into the water may seep into the pasta, so using the same water for both is a good practice. Before draining the pasta when it reaches al dente status (firm but tender), reserve a ladle-full of the pasta water.
After draining, return the pasta to the empty water pot and add the pesto. Mix the pasta with the pesto, adding some of the reserved pasta water to help melt the cheese and spread the pesto.
Serve hot in big bowls.
I’ve always loved the British tradition of pausing for a cup of tea in the late afternoon as a break in the day to relax and release stress. It turns out that compounds in green and black tea chemically help you de-stress and studies have shown that tea drinkers are less stressed than non-tea drinkers.
Lately, my tea of choice has been red rooibus, or bush tea. Like green and black teas, it’s brimming with antioxidents, but I like it because it has a robust, earthy flavor and is naturally decaffeinated. I wonder if rooibus has the same relaxing effects as green and black teas? It seems to work for me anyway.
Question: I’m pretty sure my 2 yr old has croup. Coughs like a barking seal at night in bed, but is better during the day. Any advice on treatments or things that ease symptoms? Thanks.
Croup is always identified by that distinctive seal-like barking cough, and is easy to come by for young kids in the fall or winter months. Croup happens when the windpipe and vocal cords become inflamed, usually from a viral respiratory infection, making it difficult to breathe, and croup attacks usually come at night. During the day, the child may have stridor, or noisy, raspy breathing, which can be a good warning that a croup coughing attack is coming that night.
A croup attack can be really scary for both the child and the parent as the child fights to breathe between barking coughs. Fortunately, you can ease a croup attack quickly and effectively with a few simple actions.
First, take the child into a steamy bathroom. Turn the shower on hot to produce steam that will loosen the windpipe and help it relax while hydrating any dried mucous in the throat thus allowing it to be cleared. Stay in the steam for 15-25 minutes, or until the child is breathing easily again.
Second, soothe the child. When this would happen to my children when they were younger, I would sit with them on my lap while perched on the edge of the tub, the shower curtain draped behind us to direct the steam, rocking and crooning soothingly. Fear and anxiety, though understandable, make the croup experience worse because they tighten up the throat. Control your own fear and project calm. Reassure the child that she will be ok and that you are there to take care of her until she is better. Stay with her until the attack is over and she is ready to go back to bed.
Third, crack a window. Croup responds best to cool steam, and it usually happens during the cooler months, so cracking a window or even stepping outside for a few minutes might help break the coughing cycle. Usually I find that the steam itself is enough to end the attack, but stepping outside can be very effective, too.
If you suspect your child is heading for a croupy night, you can take some steps to prevent or avoid the worst of it. You can also these strategies after calming a croup attack to prevent another one that night and in the following nights.
First, use a cool mist humidifier. Keep the air moist in your child’s room to keep her throat lubricated and moist. I like to use an ultrasonic vaporizer because it purifies the water as it works.
Second, add aromatherapy. Fill the little dish that comes with the humidifier with clean water and add 2-3 drops of eucalyptus essential oil. Set it atop the steam vent so that the scent diffuses through the room with the mist. Eucalyptus oil has astringent properties which can help clear air passages and fight infections. Rubbed directly on the soles of the feet, eucalyptus essential oil can calm any coughing attack – even a croupy cough.
Third, offer homeopathic remedies. The first remedy to use is Aconite. Dissolve in water and offer one dose at the onset of croup, when the cough is dry, loud, and barking. Offer a second dose in an hour if symptoms persist. If the croup progresses into an attack, dissolve homeopathic Spongia Tosta in water and offer 1 teaspoon. If, once past the croup seal-bark stage, the cough turns loose and rattling, try a dose of Hepar Sulph to clear it out. Here are instructions on how to take homeopathic remedies.
Lately I’ve been fielding a number of questions from mothers who wonder if their child’s unpleasant or unacceptable behavior could stem from something they are eating. My answer is always a resounding YES!
Yes, food sensitivities can cause behavior changes including tantrums, aggression, irritability, mood swings, excitability, inability to concentrate, inconsolable crying, fatigue, lethargy, inability to stop moving and settle down, etc., etc., etc.
I first saw the connection between what a child eats and their behavior when we discovered my son’s food sensitivities at age 6. Within eight weeks of removing the offending foods not only did we see physical effects like he grew 2 inches and gained 15 lbs., but he went from a dark, moody kid prone to irritability and tantrums to a happy child who wanted to give and get more hugs. His sleep improved and he stopped wetting the bed. I knew we had really turned a corner when I heard him singing to himself in the bathtub – something that had never happened before!
Really, it makes sense: food sensitivities trigger inflammation all over the body, including in the brain. When your brain is inflamed, it’s impossible to think clearly and rationally and emotions are close to the surface. When the inflammation is removed, often a different person will emerge.
Here is another case study in how food sensitivities cause behavior changes:
Five months ago, in early September of 2012, we conducted an MRT food sensitivities test on a 5 year old girl, “Kristy”. Her mother came to me because Kristy was having constant constipation and bad belly aches almost daily. She describes her efforts to help her daughter:
“We tried to eliminate different things like milk and gluten, but it was just a big guessing game and it was hard to tell if anything was working. And it was a lot to put a 5-year old through, trying all these random diets without seeing any great results. Then I took her to the pediatrician to get her blood tested because she had such low energy levels and stamina and I was worried that something might be really wrong with her. All the blood work turned up fine. When I mentioned her lack of energy to the pediatrician, he just said that some kids are more tired than others and recommended iron supplements, but that made the constipation even worse. The pediatrician did not address food sensitivities at all, nor would he have had the tools to test for it.”
The MRT came back showing that Kristy had multiple food sensitivities, including some of her favorite foods like strawberries, tomatoes, and oats. Kristy’s mom and I reviewed the results together and designed a customized anti-inflammatory diet for Kristy. We determined safe foods to offer her for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, and discussed recipes and cooking ideas to help replace the unsafe foods she had been accustomed to eating. Our goal was to make the food transition as smooth and easy as possible for Kristy and for her mom, who works and didn’t have much time to do extra cooking.
“When we started the program, Kristy’s belly aches stopped almost right away. The constipation took longer… maybe at least six weeks of sticking to the program before it really eased up to where we could call her regular, but from the beginning it was nothing like it had been before we started. Before, we were giving her prunes, prune juice, children’s laxatives… but nothing was working and she would go 5-6 days between bowel movements. When she is regular, she’s like a new person. When she’s stopped up for six days, her personality changes. She’s whiney, tired, inconsolable. The personality difference is so significant that it’s hard to describe.”
Now, almost five months after starting on LEAP, Kristy has adjusted to living on the foods that are safe for her and has reached a “safe” place in that her body is no longer constantly being triggered into inflammation. Kristy is fully aware of the foods that cause her distress and is happy to stay on board the program. (Of course, she still begs for candy like most kids!) Now, her mom can clearly see the effects on Kristy’s behavior when she eats a sensitivity-triggering food. Additionally, some of those original trigger foods have been successfully re-introduced without triggering symptoms.
“Her most difficult sensitivities for us to manage are to sugar, chocolate, and milk,” Kristy’s mom describes. “Within twenty minutes of eating something with sugar, she gets very aggressive and can’t help herself from lashing out at others. Within two hours she’ll have a full meltdown about something silly and dissolve into a mess of tears for an hour or more. This just happened the other day when a friend gave her a lollypop. What a nightmare that was!
“When she’s on the LEAP program, she’s not constipated, but when she strays, she’ll be constipated for up to a week. After Kristy eats something she’s sensitive to, her energy level decreases for the next several days and she just wants to lay on the couch and watch tv. As soon as we’re able to get her back on track, which can take a week or two of sticking closely to LEAP, her energy levels rise tremendously and she wants to do 100 laps around the house! She’s really a different person now.”
