If you're like most parents, you want to give your child everything they need to thrive - to succeed in their endeavors and to create rewarding and joyful lives. You want to provide them with nourishment - emotional, spiritual and physical - and protect them from harm. Physical nourishment starts with a good diet. Many studies show that good nutrition helps children feel better about themselves, adjust more easily to varied social situations and excel in school. Yet, government surveys continue to find our children are deficient in important nutrients, and that such deficiencies have serious repercussions on their mental, emotional and physical well-being and development.Conscientious parents may provide their children with a good diet containing plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and other whole foods, but getting these notoriously picky eaters to consume all the vitamins and minerals they need is another story! Which may explain why about one-third of American children are now tak…

Facts don’t cease to exist just because they’re ignored – Aldous HuxleyThe above quote introduces nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman’s book Zapped, about the invisible pollution that is increasing exponentially all around us — electromagnetic fields (EMFs). Nutrition — what we eat and the supplements we take — can play an important role in protecting ourselves from EMFs’ potentially damaging effects. But first, what are EMFs? Anything that produces energy, including the cells in our own bodies, radiates that energy outwards, creating a field of energy, an EMF, that diminishes exponentially as you move away from its source. Some EMFs are healing and some are harmful. The earth radiates healing energy, which is why “earthing” — standing or sitting barefoot, with the soles of your feet in direct contact with the earth — is a scientifically authenticated healing therapy. Other EMFs can be harmful, depending on their intensity and proximity. These include the radio freq…

There’s probably nothing more important than regular exercise for healthy aging.  But it’s hard to be active when your joints hurt. That’s why it’s critical to take good care of our joints, and part of that is giving them the nutrition they need. Staying away from the inflammatory Big Four—sugar, wheat and refined flour, processed oils is the first crucial step; getting adequate amounts of the healthy, anti-inflammatory oils, like flax, fish, coconut and olive oils is the next. You’ll also want to supply your joints with an array of antioxidants from fresh fruits and vegetables and from antioxidant supplements, like vitamins A, C, D and E; minerals zinc and selenium; and MSM, green and white tea, curcumin, CoQ10 and quercetin. Drink plenty of water. According to water expert Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, MD, dehydration can be a factor in joint pain and lower back pain. Water is one of the main components of cartilage, the slick, spongy material at the ends of bones. Ca…

The only thing that is constant is change ― Heraclitus We may not feel that different from day to day, but our bodies are constantly changing, breaking down old cells and tissues and replacing them with new cells and tissues.  Part of this constant change is self-repair. Have you ever marveled at how a cut or bruise heals, usually leaving no trace of injury, without your having to do a thing? But our bodies need two things from us to perform these miracles—good nutrition to supply the right raw materials, and protection from toxins. Lacking either, repairs can’t be made properly and instead of healing, the body begins to break down.   Inflammation is part of the repair process, and when repairs are complete, inflammation disappears.  But when repairs are incomplete, inflammation becomes chronic. It then causes chronic pain and further damage that elicits more inflammation in a vicious cycle. This is what happens in arthritic joints.  It isn’t “old a…