What is Organic?
As defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), organic foods are those grown WITHOUT the use of pesticides, petroleum- or sewage-based fertilizers, antibiotics, synthetic hormones, genetic engineering and irradiation.

What If It’s Not Organic?
If it’s not organic, than it’s most likely grown WITH pesticides, petroleum- or sewage-based fertilizers, antibiotics, synthetic hormones, genetic engineering, or irradiation.

When eat fruits and vegetables with pesticide residue, we are also ingesting poisons which have been designed to kill insects, weeds, small rodents and other pests. These poisons accumulate in our bodies and may make us very sick. Pesticides can suppress the immune system, our first line of defense against disease. A 2001 study by the Center for Disease Control found that Americans have a variety of chemicals in their bodies, which may lead to health problems, including cancers.

The chemicals in Aiden’s food affect him differently than an adult.

We forget that children are not miniature adults. Their bodies are still developing. In fact, what may be acceptable for one child, may cause a problem in another. Picky eaters usually ingest more chemicals than other children, because the food they willingly eat is junk food.

What’s Acceptable?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets the standard for “acceptable” pesticide residue for fruit and vegetables. (I want to know what makes it acceptable.) While the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has done it’s own analysis of 87,000 government tests conducted between 2000 and 2007. EWA developed “The Dirty Dozen” list of the most pesticide contaminated produce.

The produce was given a score: 100 is the highest pesticide load and 0 the least.

Start With The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen are the top 12 fruit and vegetables with the highest pesticide load. They were peaches (100), apples (93), sweet bell pepper (83), celery (82), nectarines (81), strawberries (80), cherries (73), kale (69), lettuce (67), imported grapes (66), carrots and pears (63). It only makes sense that these should be the first organic fruit and vegetables you purchase.

It’s interesting that most items on the lower end of the pesticide list, the outer layer is thrown away.  Those with the lowest pesticide levels were onions (1), avocados (1), frozen sweet corn and peas (2), pineapples (7), mangoes (9), asparagus (10), kiwi 13), cabbage  (17), eggplant (20), papaya (20) and watermelon (26).

Avoid Pesticides
To avoid as many pesticides as possible, you’ll want to eat organic produce. A good place to begin is to avoid The Dirty Dozen and purchase organic instead.

When you eat fruit with an outside covering which is not consumed (the husk of an ear of corn is discarded and so is the peel of a banana), some of the pesticides are thrown out with the outer layer…but not all. The majority of pollutants are absorbed into the plant and can’t be washed away. Still, a thorough washing will remove some of the pollutants. Also, all produce has been touched by an average of 20 people before you purchase it. That’s the people who harvest, transport, stock the market as well as customers. So always wash your produce.

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Especially if you have a picky eater, you’ll want even desserts to be healthy. This recipe came from Loralie, a mom who reads the Baby Bites Ezine.

She says, “I am NOT a big fan of most veggies – especially sweet potatoes. With my new way of eating, rich colored veggies are at the top of the list. I have my daughter following the same eating as I do – no sugar no gluten – wow what a change in her! I have been looking for new recipes for desserts so that we don’t feel deprived or punished. A friend gave me this recipe this week and swore that it was amazing. I will have to admit I was VERY skeptical, but I thought I would give it a try. If you like Chocolate Mousse, then you will LOVE this new family favorite! Give it a try and you will be stunned  – I promise! It is a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies too! Use all organic ingredients to preserve the flavor and health benefits.”

Makes a dozen ¼ cup servings – This is a very rich dessert!

First You’ll Need:
Whip until the following until it reaches desired thickness and divide in half (save half for topping):
2 cups organic heavy cream or whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon blue agave (to taste)

Next You’ll Need:
2 14 ounce cans pureed organic sweet potatoes or 2 medium (one and a half pounds) peeled sweet potatoes, cooked until soft and pureed (pulse in a blender until the consistency of the canned variety) light and airy.
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons blue agave (For those who are sugar sensitive or diabetic use 4-5 packets Stevia and taste for sweetness)

Pictured: Ally and Nicole helping me make Chocolate Mousse.

Method
1. Add pureed sweet potatoes, cocoa, vanilla and agave (or Stevia) and whip until smooth.
2. Add half of the whipped cream and whip until fluffy – don’t over mix.
3. Spoon into small bowls and top with the remaining fresh whipped cream.
4. Eat at once or refrigerate.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adven- tures. For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

The best bet is to find local mom and pop eateries who serve locally grown real food. Also, organic restaurants are becoming more popular. Find one in your area.

Sounds odd, doesn’t it? Most of the food you purchase out isn’t real. Ever wonder about those eggs in a hotel or chain breakfast eatery? Chefs don’t crack open eggs; they pour a highly processed egg mixture from a box. Creamy soups are made with trans fat, not milk. The “special” sauce on your hamburger is a concoction of trans fat, sugar and chemicals.

Rachel loves lemonade made with Stevia.

Ask
It is as simple as asking about the food you’re ordering. Don’t be shy. So many people are on special diets; nobody cares. Many menu items would be healthy if it weren’t for the way they were prepared. Ask for your vegetables and main dishes to be served without the sauces. Ask for olive oil and vinegar be brought to your table for your salads. Ask to have your food broiled or steamed. Most independent restaurants cater to the needs and tastes of its customers, so ask for whole foods.

Drink Water
More than 15 billion gallons of soda pop were sold in 2000. That’s least one 12-ounce can per day for every man, woman, and child in America. In the past 10 years, soft drink consumption among children has almost doubled in the United States. You not only save when you eat out when you drink water, but you’ll be healthier for it. Another option is to order unsweetened iced tea. For the kids add a packet of Stevia (a natural sweetener) and squeeze lemon slices into a glass of water to make your own lemonade. Of course sipping with a straw makes it more special.

Avoid ALL Fried Food
I no longer purchase any fried food…NONE at all. Trans fats hide in fried foods. Even if the restaurant uses healthy oils (most don’t), it’s used until it turns to sludge. Furthermore, oil is heated to very high temperatures, turning even healthy oils into a trans fat. The fried food you eat out, isn’t like the food you fry at home. Click Here to see year-old French fries.

Skip the Bread
As soon as the wait-person comes to your table ask that he/she NOT bring any bread. There’s nothing more tempting than the white trans fat bread setting on the table. Even the brown bread is most likely not a whole grain. Out of site out of mind.

Go Naked
“Undress” your food. When choosing items, be aware of where the chemicals are hiding: salad dressings, spreads, tortilla and taco shells, etc. One of my favorite places to purchase lunch out is Chipotle’s Mexican Grill. Chipotle’s began in Colorado and is now a national chain. They use unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, naturally raised, hormone free, organic food. Trans fat will sneak in the most unsuspecting places, even at Chipotlie’s. Tortillas are usually made with a trans fat. I always order the Fajita Bowl, skipping the fajita burrito which comes wrapped in a tortilla.

Fast Food Options
The best option is “just say no” to fast food. What can you do if you find yourself there anyway? Chose broiled and grilled chicken sandwiches as well as a regular hamburger or roast beef sandwich instead of jumbo burgers and fried sandwiches. Skip special sauces and dips and ask for extra lettuce, tomatoes, onions and mustard on sandwiches. (I wouldn’t eat the bread either, but hey that’s up to you.)

I don’t frequent Starbucks, because I’m not a coffee drinker. If I’m away from home and thirsty I like to order their Orange Mango Vivanno Smoothie. It’s made with a real banana, milk and orange mango juice. Stated on their website “we removed the trans fats, artificial flavors, artificial dyes and high fructose corn syrup from everything in our food case.”  Of course there’s still a lot of sugar in their drinks, but it’s good to know that they’re making an effort.

I don’t know of a take out pizza without trans fat in it’s crust. I usually make mine at home. But if you order out, the vegetable pizza will be your best bet. Pepperoni and sausage are loaded with nitrates. So by all means, avoid those toppings.

Dining Out
Entrees: Good choices include entrees which are steamed, poached, roasted, or baked in their own juices.

Salads & Veggies: Choose salads made with rich dark greens like spinach and romaine rather than pale iceberg lettuce. Ask that vinegar and olive oil be brought to your table. Select dark, leafy greens, raw vegetables and fruits, lean turkey and cottage cheese

Skip Dessert
Dessert is loaded with sugars, white flours, artificial ingredients and trans fats. Dessert jacks up your bill. Sip dessert.

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Happy Birthday, Dear Happy Meal, Happy Birthday to You!

I know it’s hard to believe. Time flies, doesn’t it? My eyes tear when I think today, March 3, is my Happy Meal’s first birthday. They grow up so fast, don’t they?

I purchased a Happy Meal, not to eat, but to observe and blog about. Yes, I bought a Happy Meal and then placed it on my office shelf, right behind me and my computer. It sat on my shelf for a year as a silent witness to our fast food industry.

It smelled delicious for a few days. I’d get a whiff of those yummy French fries every time I walked into my office. After a week or so, you could hardly smell it. My husband worried that when the food began to decompose, there would be a terrible order in our home. He also worried the food would attract ants and mice. He questioned my sanity.

No Worries
NOPE, no worries at all. My Happy Meal is one year old today and it looks pretty good. It NEVER smelled bad. The food did NOT decompose. It did NOT get moldy, at all.

This morning, I took it off my shelf to take a birthday photo. The first year is always a milestone. I gave it one of my world famous nonna hugs as we’ve been office mates for a year now! (Okay, maybe my sanity is in question.)

What’s WRONG with this picture?
The photo above on the left is the one I took today. Because Colorado has an arid climate, over the year the moisture has been slowly pulled from the Happy Meal. The bread is crusty and if you look closely, you will see a crack across the top. The hamburger has shrunk a bit and still resembles a hockey puck. Yet, the French fries look yummy enough to eat. I never had an odor problem, after a couple of weeks, I couldn’t even smell the fries.

Now look at the photo on the right, I took it a year ago. Not much difference. The bread is plumper and the fries a tad bit perkier.

What’s not HAPPY about a Happy Meal?
Picky eaters universally love junk foods. They won’t touch veggies and sometimes refuse to eat the food their moms prepare. Out of desperation, parents give in and purchase the food their picky eaters will eat…junk food.

The next time you’re tempted to purchase a Happy Meal for your child, think about these photos. Food is SUPPOSED to decompose, go bad and smell foul…eventually.  When I was a kid, I remember our garbage pail for the left over food scraps was kept by our back door. After a couple of days, flies deposited their larvae (maggots) in the meat. When I would lift the lid, I would see the recently hatched maggots wiggling on the putrid mess. A fly never bothered to land on the tiny hamburger patty on my office shelf.

Food is broken down into it’s essential nutrients in our bodies and turned into fuel. Our children grow strong bodies, when they eat real food. Flies ignore a Happy Meal and microbes don’t decompose it, then your child’s body can’t properly metabolize it either. Now you know why it’s called “junk food.”

I think ants, mice and flies are smarter than people, because they weren’t fooled. They never touched the Happy Meal. Children shouldn’t either.

Read Nonna’s Happy Meal Blog, CLICK HERE.

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No, the only way you can be sure you are eating nutritious foods is to read and understand food labeling. The food manufacturer will do just about anything to convince you that their product is not only tasty, but healthful.

Abby Joy is secure because her mom knows how to avoid label traps! Do you?

1) Whole Grain Trap: The words “Whole Grain” on the front of the package sounds like you’re getting a good dose of fiber.

Truth: The front of the package can say just about anything. The only place you will find the truth will be on the nutrition label. A reasonably good source of fiber has at least 3 grams per serving.

Avoid the Trap by purchasing a food with a whole grain as the first ingredient.

2) Fat-Free Trap: Fat-Free or low-fat on the label means it’s a healthy food.

Truth: When fat has been removed from a product, such as in low-fat yogurt, sugar is added to make up for the deficient in the taste. There is approximately 7 teaspoons of sugar in a 6 ounce container of low-fat yogurt!

Avoid the Trap by purchasing plain (not vanilla) whole milk yogurt and stir in a little fruit-only jam for flavor.

3) Natural Trap: The label says “Natural,” so it must be good for you.

Truth: The FDA doesn’t have an official definition for the term “natural.” Natural can mean anything. Wood is a natural substance, but you wouldn’t want to eat it. On the other hand, USDA Certified Organic means the food is free from chemicals and has been grown without pesticides and GMOs.

Avoid the Trap by purchasing organic foods.

4) Zero Trap: The label advertises zero trans fat.

Truth: If you see “no trans fats” on the label, don’t assume you’re in the clear. Check the ingredients for partially hydrogenated oils, a trans fat. The FDA defines trans-fat-free as less than 0.5 gram per serving.

Avoid the Trap by reading the ingredient list and putting any product back on the shelf which contains hydrogenated anything.

5) Good Source Trap: The words “Good Source” on the front of the package, indicates the product is healthful.

Truth: Foods need only supply 10 percent of a specified nutrient to be labeled a “good source.”  Sometimes the food manufacturer even fudges with that figure, because the 10 percent can be calculated for more than one serving. Look at the fine print.

Avoid the Trap by purchasing whole foods, which are the only good source of any nutrient.

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That’s what the label says. I’m NOT kidding.

I wanted to purchase a tub of Cool Whip for a talk I was giving on the “10 Worst Foods of the Decade” and couldn’t find the tub variety, so I bought the aerosol can.

As you can imagine, I was more than a little surprised to see the claim, “0g trans fat” on the label.  Cool Whip is primarily water, chemicals (including trans fat) and air.

So what’s up?

The keys to understanding this ludicrous claim is the amount in a serving and government requirements.  The Food and Drug Administration has decided that for a product to claim zero grams of trans fat a product has to have less than .5 percent of trans fat per serving. Ludicrous! Zero should mean zero, don’t you think?

Avah can’t wait for some real whipped cream.

So how much is a “Cool Whip serving”? Why it’s a mere 2 tablespoons. Dot some Cool Whip on the top of pudding or squirt a little in your mouth and you’ll have a serving.

Of course, if you eat more than a serving, then you are ingesting more than .5 grams of trans fat. If you eat more than 2 tablespoons of Cool Whip (and I imagine most do), then you’ll be over the government recommended limit. That’s the government’s recommendation, not mine. Never mind that trans fat has a half-life of 51 days. That means that it takes 51 days for trans fat to leave your body.

The ingredient panel for the aerosol CoolWhip lists the ingredients as: WATER, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CARRAGEENAN, POLYSORBATE 60, MONO-AND DIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM STEROYL LACTYLATE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR).

(CoolWhip ingredients for the tub variety vary slightly.)

Ingredients are listed in quantity levels, meaning that the largest ingredient is listed first. Lets look at the first eight:

1. Water is the number one ingredient. Actually it’s air, but so far, so good.

2. Hydrogenated vegetable oil comes in second. This is the trans fat. The label states zero grams of trans fat, yet it is second on the ingredient list! Remember, the FDA allows LESS than .5 grams for a zero listing. Cool Whip’s trans fat is derived from coconut and palm kernel oils. They begin with healthy oils and the process to hydrogenate it turns it into an unhealthy creamy product. This gives the product an incredibly long shelf life.

3. High Fructose Corn Syrup. This syrup is adulterated by combining enzymes such as amylase with the glucose. This allows it to be converted to fructose. Fructose is quickly turned to fat in your system.

4. Corn Syrup is sugar, but not just sugar, genetically altered sugar.

5. Sodium Caseinate less than 2% (from Milk). Sodium Caseinate is a protein found in cow’s milk that assists the oil and water to mix together.

6. Natural and artificial flavorings. Artificial flavorings are simply chemical mixtures to replace a natural flavor. Natural flavors are more deceiving, because they can be chemicals as well.

7. Carrageen is extracted from seaweed. It’s considered a natural thickening agent. Although considered natural, it’s come under scrutiny. It may cause digestive problems in some people.

8. Polysorbate 60 comes from processing corn, oil palms and petroleum.  Yes, petroleum. The “poly” is from “polymer, the “sorb” from “sorbitol,” and the “ate” means that it contains oxygen.

YUCK!

Don’t count on the Food and Drug Administration to have your best interest at heart. Next time you want a whipped topping, purchase whipping cream and whip it up yourself!

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Amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent.

Abbie’s not sure what that is, do you know?

This is a typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a strawberry milk shake. Often flavor compounds contain more ingredients than the foods that they give flavor to.

The federal Food and Drug Administration does not require companies to disclose the ingredients of their color or flavor additives so long as all the chemicals in them are considered by the agency to be GRAS (generally recognized as safe).

Artificial flavors and colors are made from petroleum and one of its byproducts, benzene, a flammable colorless, carcinogenic, sweet-smelling, liquid solvent. Artificial vanilla manufacturing starts a long way from tropical orchid flower fields, the origin of real vanilla. Synthetic vanilla flavoring, called vanillin, is made in petrochemical plants in China and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

To make things more confusing, aspartame, monosodium glutamate and MSG are often masked by other names: natural flavors, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, monsodium glutamate, hydrolized plant protein, plant protein extract, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, yeast extract, textured protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolized oat flour, malt extract, malt flavoring, bouillon, broth, stock, flavoring, natural flavoring, natural beef, chicken flavoring, seasoning, spices, carrageenan, enzymes, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, whey protein concentrate.

What’s a mom to do? Of course read labels, but don’t be fooled by the nutrition label. Eat whole foods.

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This tangy chicken recipe is easy to make. Serve with broccoli and hard crusted whole-grain bread and you have a complete meal.

You’ll need:
3 pounds chicken thighs
2 pints grape tomatoes
1 lemon
1 head garlic
1 cup Kalamata olives (may use whole pitted black olives)
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees

Method:
1) Peal the garlic, rinse the tomatoes, cut the olives in half, and squeeze the juice from the lemon.

2) Toss the garlic, tomatoes, olives, thyme, lemon juice and half the olive oil in a roasting pan.

3) Nestle the chicken, skin-side up in the pan with the vegetables. Drizzle the remaining olive oil on the chicken pieces. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

4) Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.

Hint: The thyme sprigs give the dish flavor, but are bitter. Do not serve the thyme sprigs to children (or for that matter husbands). They won’t know to leave them on the plate.

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Do you know what percentage of food dollars is spent on processed foods, most, if not all, which have added chemicals to enhance flavor?

Kids are conditioned to these psychedelic flavors. The additives like food flavorings,  high fructose corn syrup, MSG and salt are almost always ingredients in processed foods, especially junk foods. Salt is added to processed foods for longer shelf life as well as taste.

Zachary and Angel love psychedelic colors… not chemical- altered flavors.

MSG is added to food to give it that indescribable taste-explosion that’s found in fast food. These additives become additive. That’s why MSG is found just about everything, including French fries. But you’ll be hard-pressed to find MSG on a food label as it has many aliases.

What about those yummy fruit flavors? Today, chemicals can give candy and gum a strawberry or an apple flavor, but it’s really petroleum. Do you really want your kids to eat petroleum?

Add sugar, especially High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) to the mix and it’s very hard for whole foods to compete with the psychedelic flavors. HFCS fools the brain. It interrupts the signal that your stomach has received enough, so you over eat. Once HFCS is no longer in your diet, you will find that you’re satiated with less food.

Your child’s body craves real food, even if you have a picky eater. Yes, even picky eaters, who refuse to eat whole foods, need them for health. To be successful in transforming a picky eater to a healthy eater, whole foods must replace fast foods and junk foods. ( Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater onto a Healthy Eater explains how you can accomplish this in about a week.) You’ll be fighting an uphill battle if cookies, crackers, chips, candy and sugar-filled drinks are found in your pantry and you regularly purchase fast foods.

Psychedelic flavors alter our perception of food. It changes our sensory expectation of what is tasty. Because of marketing highly processed foods, kids expect a taste-sensation when they eat.

Adjust Your Taste Thermostat
It will take a week or so for your kid’s taste buds to adjust to whole foods. Be assured, they will adjust. Yes, you need to be patient and hold the line.

Your thermostat adjusts your furnace or air conditioner when you change the temperature control. Once the new temperature is programmed in the thermostat the temperature in the room eventually alters.

The same is true for taste buds. Once they’re programmed to whole foods, the sweetness of an orange or a ripe peach will be unbelievable. A sip of soda pop will become excruciatingly sugary. The craving for salty chips will be replaced with desiring the crunch of julienne veggies and dip. Canned soups will become too salty. Boxed macaroni and cheese will loose its appeal. (By the way, the processed dried cheese in mac and cheese is loaded with colorings and MSG.)

Do your children have psychedelic taste expectations? We spend 90 percent of our food dollars on processed foods. Not until you change that statistic for your family will your children begin to appreciate the taste of whole foods.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

I do not consider myself to be an expert on childhood vaccinations. The following information is the result of my research. At the very least, I trust you will find this information thought-provoking. With permission I compiled much of the following from www.mercola.com. You will find links to other internet articles as well.  Click Here to read Dr. Mercola’s entire article.
This information has NOT been approved by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Ouch…32 vaccines by the time Jovey’s two.

By the time children start school he or she will have received more than 36 injections, including four doses each of vaccines for Hemophilus influenzae type b infections, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis which are given during the first 12 months of life.

In 1976 (this is when my children were receiving vaccinations), children received 10 vaccines before attending school, and in the early 1980s, the incidence of autism was 1 in 10,000 births.

Today, autism affects one in every 150 births: with one in 68 American families having an autistic child. Other, less severe developmental disorders, rarely seen before the vaccine era, have also reached epidemic proportions. Four million American children have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). One in six American children are now classified as “Learning Disabled.”

Is there a connection between autism and other developmental disorders and vaccines? This is for you to decide. If you are interested in the science behind this connection, Dr. Mercola recommends Dr. Russell Blaylock’s paper that provides a connection between excessive vaccination and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Is the Vaccination Schedule Safe?
The current vaccination schedule has never been proven to be safe. Health officials consider a vaccine to be safe if no bad reactions — like seizures, intestinal obstruction or anaphylaxis — occur acutely. The CDC has not done any studies to assess the long-term effects of its immunization schedule.

So no one knows whether injecting children with numerous vaccines in their first 24 months of life, plus the meningococcal vaccine, which is to be administered between the age of 2 and 6, is enough to overwhelm their systems and lead to neurological and immune system disorders. They don’t know, yet they are very adamant about keeping children on this schedule — and they make anyone who dares to question their logic out to be a quack.

Think about this: One vaccine injected into a 13-pound, 2-month-old infant is equivalent to 10 doses of the same in a 130-pound adult. This is an assault on your child’s nervous system and immune system, neither of which is fully developed. It’s no wonder, then, according to Dr. Russell Blaylock, that multiple vaccines given close together over-stimulate your brain’s immune system and, via the mechanism of “bystander injury,” destroy brain cells.

Members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — the one that promulgates a self-serving, one-size-fits-all vaccine policy — are known to have ties to vaccine makers. And their compulsory vaccination schedule, that’s required of nearly every U.S. child who is entering public school, has made many of these vaccine makers rich beyond their wildest imaginations.

Despite the constant denial that vaccines do not cause neurodevelopmental disorders the U.S. government has paid out more than $1.5 billion in its Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to families of children who have been injured or killed by vaccines. Most haven’t heard of Baily Banks, who had a seizure 16 days after his first measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR), in 2000 and the court awarding his parents $750,000 for his care. Or that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled that Hannah Poling’s autistic symptoms were triggered by thimerosal (a preservative present in vaccines) given to her at 18 months.  Click Here to read about Baily and Click Here to read more about Hannah.

Vaccinate or Not?
I agree with Dr. Mercola and think it’s wise to question the validity of most all vaccinations. But Dr. Mercola suggests a middle ground, one that at least protects your children during the crucial time of their brain development. The most rapid period of brain development begins in the third trimester of pregnancy and continues over the first two years of life. By then, brain development is 80 percent complete, so it makes sense to wait until this time to give any vaccinations.

Dr. Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle, came up with this user-friendly vaccination schedule back in 2004:
1. No vaccinations until your child is two years old
2. No vaccines that contain thimerosal (mercury)
3. No live virus vaccines
4. The following vaccines should be given one at a time (not as a combination vaccine), every 6 months, beginning at age 2:

• Pertussis (acellular, not whole cell)
• Diphtheria
• Tetanus
• Polio (the Salk vaccine, cultured in human cells)

This schedule takes the best interests of the individual into consideration rather than what the government judges best for society. If your pediatrician does not like this schedule (and most won’t), you might find a new one who does.

Check out Dr. Mercola’s website: http://www.mercola.com

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

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