(From HealthDay News) — Pregnant women with low levels of vitamin D may be putting their children at risk for language difficulties, Australian researchers report.
Taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy may relieve the problem, they suggest.
“Adequate vitamin D levels among pregnant women may be important for the optimal development of their baby,” said lead researcher Andrew Whitehouse, an associate professor and reader in developmental psychopathology at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research at the University of Western Australia. “However, it is important for the findings of this study to be replicated before any strong conclusions are made.” Read the rest of this entry
In New England the season of Earth and water goes from February 1 to June 1.
The element of water and earth predominate this season and are responsible for the body’s structure, and provides the “glue” or cohesion that holds the cells together. When these elements are in balance our joints are lubricated, skin is moist, immunity and vitality are strong. The expressive emotions of love, calmness and forgiveness flow easily. When the elements of water and earth (Kapha) are out of balance it leads to emotions such as attachment, possessiveness, greed, depression and physical symptoms such as congestive disorders, excess mucus, sinus related problems (are you doing your nedi pot?), allergies, sluggishness, dull aches, water retention, and pains, acceleration of arthritic conditions, especially osteoarthritis, fibrocystic changes and digestive related problems. Read the rest of this entry
Recipe #1 Black Bean Chocolate Chili Cherry Cookies
There is a great food blog that our neighbor suggested to us after she brought over these chocolate chili cherry black bean cookies (or some permutation on the name). They were wow, delicious!, and packed some punch and good nutrition at the same time.
Sounds kind of crazy, cherry, black beans, chocolate and chili….but it works really well together. Click here for the recipe.
Since Valentine’s Day is upon us it is a good time to bring up chocolate and the moral consequences that goes along with purchasing the majority of chocolate we find on the shelves. Certainly chocolate has a plethora of benefits as can easily be found in research studies. These are often because of the powerful plant chemicals known as polyphenols which are made by the plant to protect itself, however us humans can ingest polyphenols for nutritional benefit. A truly polyphenol rich dessert would be a dark chocolate with Shiraz red wine which will warm and protect your heart.
Yesterday I watched a phenomenal webinar on the effects of food chemicals and child behavior. It was entitled “Driven to Distraction: Food, chemicals and child behavior” and hosted by an organization that is worth knowing, Healthy Food Action. The webinar was recorded and they promise to have it up soon, once they do I’ll post a link.
Today a video with a similar theme was posted on a Functional Medicine listserv I am on. If you want to see digestion of wholesome foods vs. processed foods you need to check out this video. Amazing how long long those Ramen noodles are intact in the stomach. I guess we can also just use a compost bin to compare processed vs. whole instead of expensive technology.
