How to Be a Wow Mom!

Great reminders from my friend, Dr. Vicky Arcadi who works with moms and babies:

This weekend is Mother’s Day.
Happy Mother’s Day to all moms around the world, all expecting moms, and all future moms!

Those who are already moms know how important it is to be healthy. My favorite saying is: “If mom is OK, baby is OK”. If mom is doing well, then her kids will be doing well. Kids depend on mom. She holds the house together, and everyone feels safe when mom is doing well and caring for everyone well. It has been estimated that mothers would be paid over 6 figures a year, if they were to be paid for all they do. So moms know they cannot get sick!

Many times moms will sacrifice their own supplements for the children because they want the kids to be healthy. But, just like in the airplane, when the oxygen mask falls down, the mom needs to breathe first out of the mask, then take off the mask and give the oxygen to the baby. Mom must be in tip top shape to properly care for and be there for her children.

So it is very important the moms take care of themselves. They need to be on a food matrix or food form vitamin and mineral(See Cellular Health Plan) Moms know that from being pregnant. It is very important. She also must take what she is deficient in, and as we know from science, we are all deficient in the Glyconutrients. She should be on Dioscorea Villosa as well as phytochemicals and antioxidants including vitamins C, bioflavinoids, and E. These are the natural staples that we should all be getting in our diets. It doesn’t matter if you are already a mom, an expecting mom or a future mom. Our bodies require what is only supplied by foods, otherwise known as the essential nutrients.

If you are eating all your meals from and at home, since our last Tip of the Week, you are probably feeling a little lighter and better. If you are not eating junk food, you are probably feeling better too. The exception to eating out might be to go out for Mother’s Day to give moms a break from the kitchen. In the restaurant business, that is officially the biggest day of the year. But, you can also make a great, healthy dinner at home for mom, and still give her a break.

99.9% of health is, in my opinion, the fuel or foods you put in your diet. We are all Ferrari’s. You can get away with putting the cheapest, lowest quality, gas into a VW bug, but if you put that gas in the Ferrari, you will not get the engine to run very well. The same goes for us. We must make sure the quality of the food is the best, meaning, fresh, clean, and highest quality possible!

So Happy Mother’s Day, and enjoy and appreciate what moms are all about and the miracle of being a mom.

What Are We Marketing to Our Children?

Sometimes it’s tough as a parent to help your child make healthy food choices–it’s a challenge because we’re so often in a hurry and looking for quick solutions ourselves. But consider for a moment what the health of these children will be like if we keep letting them and ourselves succomb to the latest in marketing junk food to our kids. Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian. Read the complete article linked below to see how the research is being done from kids’ focus groups to hone in on how to effectively sell to our young. Who’s watching out for the health of our children? It really falls upon every parent, teacher, and administrator of children’s programs to get involved and be proactive about protecting our children.

From the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1759888,00.html

“The average American child now spends about 25 hours a week watching television. That adds up to more than 1.5 months, non-stop, of TV every year. And that does not include the time spent in front of a screen watching videos, playing video games or using a computer.

Aside from going to school, American children now spend more time watching television than doing anything else except sleeping. The average British child spends two hours and 20 minutes every day watching television and 25 minutes playing video games. In the UK, more than half of children under the age of 16 have a television in their bedroom.

During the course of a year, the typical American child watches more than 40,000 TV commercials. About 20,000 of those ads are for junk food: soft drinks, sweets, breakfast cereals and fast food. That means American children now see a junk food ad every five minutes while watching TV – and see about three hours of junk food ads every week. American kids aren’t learning about food in the classroom. They’re being taught what to eat by the same junk food ads, repeating again and again.

Although the fast food chains in the US now spend more than $3bn every year on television advertising, another form of product promotion has proven even more effective. ‘The key to attracting kids,” one marketing publication says, “is toys, toys, toys.’”

What’s being done in Australia on a national level is a survey to see what the children are eating:

“AMA (Australian Medical Association) President, Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, said today there must be a National Nutrition Survey to get a true picture of what Australians of all ages are eating if we are to put in place strategies to turn back the obesity and overweight tide that is engulfing our children.” Read more.

As always, you can contact us at 866-741-2922 or HealthTutor@gmail.com

Ask Your Doctor? Maybe not about Nutrition!

One of my challenges as a wellness educator and holistic health practitioner is working with consumers who want to ask their doctor to evaluate nutritional products. It seems like a good idea, but is it? Consider how many hours the average doctor has studied nutrition. While some doctors are educated about nutrition, most fall woefully short of being expert consultants in this area. The ones who are educated in this area, have usually pursued it on their own after medical school.

In an article released on April 12, 2006 published at www.nutraingredients-usa.com, Stephen Daniells details the disquieting news that indeed, US medical schools provide very minimal nutrition education to their students. 60% do not meet even the minimal requirements of 25 hours of education recommend in 1985 by The National Academy of Sciences. This data was culled from a new survey published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 83, pp. 941S-944S).

“Dr Daniel Fabricant, vice president of scientific affairs of the National Nutritional Foods Association, applauded the authors of the study, but said that it seemed to confirm what many in the research community have long believed to be true.

‘There is an ever increasing amount of good science that demonstrates how very important nutritive factors, like the use of dietary supplements, are for not only maintaining health, but in preventing disease.’”

Some doctors have been very proactive about nutrition education and pursued holistic health programs, continuing education programs and independent studies. We work with many such doctors today. To see continuing education programs for health professionals on glycobiology and glyconutrition, visit: www.proevity.com

Next time you hve a burning question about nutrition or a particular supplement you are considering and you want to ask your doctor, you might preface your conversation with a question about whether or not they have worked with nutrition extensively with disease conditions. If the answer is “no,” they are probably not qualified to give an opinion about nutrition choices. You’re better off asking someone like me or another wellness educator or holistic practitioner.

Have a question about mixing nutrition and pharmaceuticals? Ask someone who is qualified such as a pharmacist trained in nutraceuticals. They’re available with or without your doctor’s involvement at www.mannapharmacists.com

Contact us at healthtutor@gmail.com with any questions or to receive our Health E-Newsletter! 866-741-2922