But it's only..........!!!!!

The phrase, "But it's only_____ (fill in the blank with the name of a seemingly harmless food/drink item)", drives me nuts (and THAT'S a short drive), more quickly than anything!  I don't blame people who say it (except my husband, who does it just to get a rise out of me), but it just reflects how we no longer REALLY know what is in or on our food  or water.  We have intentionally been kept in the dark by food mfrs. who know that we "CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH".  Or better yet, they can't handle us knowing it!  Take water for example.  I've mentioned to people before, that we can't drink tap water.  "But it's only water", they say.  No, not ONLY water.  It is filled with chemicals to "purify" it and has fluoride which is poison.  Did you know that fluoride is an industrial byproduct of aluminum & fertilizer manufacturing?  (Google aluminum & breast cancer).  Did you know that when ingested, fluoride weakens bones & can cause fluorosis?  Did you know that fluoride only works topically, not by ingesting/digesting?  Did you know that if not added to our water, fluoride would have to be disposed of as a TOXIC WASTE by the aluminum & fertilizer companies, at great expense, but instead, they get paid by taxpayers??!!  Google "dangers of fluoride" for more info.  Don't even get me started about the chlorine that is added to the water!  Chlorine blocks iodine absorption, so there is no wonder that there are so many thyroid disorders.  Don't think that you are getting your iodine because you use iodized table salt.  The chloride in the table salt blocks the iodine absorption, so it's pointless.  Not to mention that the iodine is bound to the salt with something called dextrose, which is essentially corn syrup.  So, some water is not just water & some salt is not entirely salt.

Let's talk about chicken.  But it's only chicken!  Again, not so much!  Even if you buy a whole chicken in the store, you have to check to see if "broth" or "solution" is added, which is most always hidden MSG & who knows what else.  You also have to consider the antibiotics they are given & in many cases the antibiotics used still contain arsenic.  ARSENIC??!!  YES, ARSENIC!!  It kills parasites & increases the appetite of the chickens so that they get fat faster.  It has been a practice for many years & only some growers have recently stopped.  My kids' bodies react very harshly to regular chicken, so that tells me there is a problem with it.  Some people might think they are allergic to chicken, but it's probably all the other junk in it.  I buy ONLY hormone/antibiotic FREE chicken, which is not necessarily "organic", but my boys do well with it.  I buy organic chicken when I can find it.  Eggs are another thing that are subject to "junk".  The feed fed to regular laying hens is genetically modified & chemical laden.  My son will actually get Tourette's from eating regular or even "all Natural" or "vegetarian" (which means nothing) eggs.  His head will whip to one side every few seconds, like an old timey typewriter.  This will last for 2 weeks!  I can only imagine how many people who suffer with Tourette's Syndrome are actually reacting to something they are eating.  My kids can ONLY tolerate "ORGANIC" eggs.  That means the hens are hormone/antibiotic free & are fed a chemical free organic diet.  That way, no chemicals get passed to the eggs.

But it's ONLY milk!!  Nope, not even milk is sacred!!  Any milk that has vitamins added, has preservatives.  Now, they can be natural or artificial.  It just depends on the dairy.  Organic Valley & Publix uses a vitamin mix that is preserved with natural corn based preservatives where as Mayfield, last time I checked, used a vitamin mix with an artificial petroleum based preservative called BHT .  Organic Valley makes a whole milk with NO vitamins added & that is what we use, because even the natural corn based preservative would bother us.  NOTE:  Because the preservatives are added to the vitamin mix by the supplier of the vitamin mix, it does not have to be listed on the label, because the milk mfr. did not add it to the milk per se!  Nice labeling loophole we have here in the U.S.!

Of course there are SO MANY MORE examples that I could show you, but hopefully this will make you think about what you eat.  Knowledge is power & the more you know, the better off you'll be.  I learned so much of what I know from being a member of The Feingold Assn. of the U.S..  They research foods & trace all ingredients back to all suppliers to insure no artificial dyes, preservatives or flavors are in the foods listed in our food list.  My family is healthier because of the support I've received from this wonderful organization.  Thank You Feingold!!  www.Feingold.org

Remembering my Daddy on Father's Day

Memories of my Daddy.......the smell of peppers & eggs cooking, the sound of a Bloody Mary with Clamato Juice being stirred, the safety I felt when he hugged me, the hours sitting in his lap in his favorite recliner watching Police Woman/Rockford Files/Lawrence Welk, fishing together at Papa Hermons, driving the golf cart when he played golf, playing Gin & Poker for pennies, going with him to work & watching him repair shoes & teach others to do so, having him so proudly take me around to all of his co-workers offices so he could introduce me to them. I remember his dead man float/body surfing at the beach, his kind heart, his strength, the smell of his BRUT cologne mixed with cigarette smoke on his clothes, his calloused hands, his infectious smile, his wonderful laugh, watching him have his shoes shined at the airport every time before a flight, teaching me to shoot a gun at his friend Charlie's. I miss all these things, but am so thankful to have had him for as long as I did, to have had these memories.  Daddy, I'll miss you ALWAYS........

What OTHER seemingly benign substance could I possibly be sensitive to??!!!

So, I'm allergic to water, we know that already.  Just when I thought I had most of my sensitivities figured out (we'll get to all the others some other time), I find a new one, or rather, it found me. This one sounds almost as ridiculous as being allergic to water...........(drum roll please)...........I'm allergic to SALT!  Again, not all salt, but something specific about certain salts.  I already knew that I couldn't tolerate iodized table or sea salt because when the iodine is added to the salt, it is bound to the salt with something called dextrose, which is another name for corn syrup.  I LOATHE CORN SYRUP because it makes me depressed & causes me pain!!  I've used regular Alessi (non-iodized) sea salt for years with no problems.  Recently I read about all of the benefits & vital nutrients in Pink Himalayan Sea Salt.  I truly believe that this is a superior salt, I just wish my body agreed.  I started using it about mid march.  After a couple of weeks, I noticed that my heel was really hurting badly & my feet & legs started swelling with water retention.   After 3-4 days of it worsening, I had to look at anything new that I had added to my diet & that pink salt was the only thing.  I immediately switched to Celtic Sea Salt, another salt that has many more nutrients than regular sea salt.  My fluid retention improved a little, and for a couple of days, the pain was a little better.  But by the 3rd day, I could hardly walk on my heel.  The pain was so acute, that I would yell upon standing.  Again, I knew it was the salt.  I had to suffer though a couple more days until I could get my old salt at the store.  A couple of days after starting back using my old faithful brand of sea salt,  the water retention went away and the pain had improved by about 70%.  It took a few more for it to go all the way away.  Unfortunately, I didn't remember that I used the Celtic sea salt in the frozen chicken broth that I used for dinner a couple of nights ago & started the whole thing over again.  The pain in my heel is starting to go away again & now to find someone to give that last quart of chicken broth to.  I hate to waste it, but I'm NOT going to go through this AGAIN!!!

As my friend Marilyn told me, I'm starring in my own version of "The Princess and the Pea"!!

Edited to add:  The reaction to these salts also included my hair falling out in much larger amounts than is normal. That also stopped when I stopped the salts.

How did I come up with the name for my blog?

Being allergic to water would seem like a ridiculous concept to most people, but not me.  My kids and I are actually allergic to water!  Well, not EXACTLY water itself, but certain components of different waters.  This was one of the 1st allergy/sensitivities that I identified in my older son "Red" who is now 9 years old.  When he was 1 1/2 years old, he had HORRIBLE eczema.  It was so bad in spots that it appeared he had been burned with acid.  Everywhere his body fluids (saliva, stool, urine, sweat, tears) touched, he had these raw spots.  On his bottom, wherever his stool would touch, sometimes there would be large white blisters, the size of half dollars & would have spots of blood as if he had been pricked repeatedly with a pin.  He sucked his thumb, so his thumb, wrist and chin, would have these "burned" places as well.
Fortunately I knew about a wonderful pediatrician here in Georgia by the name of Dr. Leila Denmark.  She was my husband's pediatrician when he was a child.  She had just retired, at 103 years old, when I had my son, so we were not fortunate enough to have her for his pediatrician.  I was fortunate enough however, to have had a book that she wrote, with all of her advice in it, as well as one written with her help, by a patient.  She also still took phone calls, so I was able to call her on many occasions throughout the last few years for guidance.  Anyway, her advice was to look at what he was eating/drinking.  Per her advice, I never gave him juice, so that wasn't a culprit to consider.  Once weaned, I only gave him spring water to drink, but used tap water to mix in his cereal & to cook homemade babyfood with.  He was still on baby food, some store bought, some homemade.  After looking at ingredients, I saw that the baby food fruit had something called citric acid added to it.  I did a search & found that it is made from corn and decided to eliminate the jarred fruit 1st.  There was a little improvement in the rashes, but not much.  Since I saw some improvement from removing the corn based citric acid, I did a search on other corn derivatives & found that the rice cereal that I was giving him had several, so I eliminated it next.  Still, a little more improvement, but the rashes were still present.
While the rashes were still present, but had improved some, we went to visit my sister in Kentucky.  We used GA mountain spring water at home because we had home delivery, but didn't have that kind in KY, so I bought some bottles of Aquafina (purified water) for him to drink, thinking all bottled waters were the same.  His rashes went crazy!  I didn't realize what the trigger was at the time, but he had red raw patches everywhere.  It was hard for me to enjoy our visit, because all I could worry about was that something was wrong with my baby, and it was getting worse each day!  I tried bathing him in baking soda, oatmeal & just plain water to no avail.  This was the 1st time that the large white blisters with blood spots had shown up on his bottom as well.  I was freaked!  Anyway, once we got back home from the visit, he started improving within a couple of days.  Then I realized that that was a clue & something made me think about the water.  Tap water was the only thing on my radar at that point because I was assuming my sisters water had a higher content of chlorine & other chemicals, so that was why he got worse.  I eliminated all tap water & only cooked with GA mtn. spring water and only gave him that to drink.  Along with having eliminated all corn derivatives, and only giving him foods that I prepared, his rashes/raw spots completely disappeared!!
The next time he got the blisters on his bottom & red rashed circles under his eyes, was when we didn't take enough Crystal Springs mtn. spring water to the lake with us & again bought purified water (Aquafina & Dasani), Within 2 days of drinking this water, the blisters showed up on his bottom, everywhere his stool touched.  Apparently there was still enough chemicals present in the purified waters, to affect him.  These waters also have minerals added for taste that also might not agree with his system.  They made his body fluids very acidic to the point they "burned him".  As soon as I saw this, I flashed back to our trip to KY with the Aquafina & realized that was the blister trigger.
I know this is getting long & thank you if you've made it this far.  This is all for my documentation purposes as well, so I don't forget.
So, now I know to only give "Red" spring water.  No tap water & No purified waters, and on a trip to the beach realized that he absolutely could only tolerate mountain spring water because he had the same blister reaction from natural spring waters from Florida & Pennsylvania springs.  Strange, but true.  There must be minerals or some other component of those waters, that aren't in the mtn. waters.  He also can't swim in chemically chlorinated pools.  He gets horrible sinus which can turn to asthma, really bad behavior issues & a bumpy rash all over his body.  Fortunately my brother in law has a salt water pool that we can use & we also go to the lake & beach, which he does fine with.
The moral of this long, long story is that anyone can be allergic/sensitive to anything.  Be willing to question EVERYTHING, to find a solution to a health problem.  There is ALWAYS a cause, you just have to be willing to keep looking until you find it!

Artificial Food Dyes Raise Health Questions for Kids

A recent debate over artificialfood dyes may have parents of young children wondering if they should avoid Froot Loops, Jell-O, M&Ms, Minute Maid Lemonade and countless other chemically colored products.

That approach couldn't hurt, and it might reduce problem behaviors and improve learning in some children, say Rochester-area experts who've closely followed the issue. 

 (Click on link above to see the complete article)

For more information on eliminating 
artificial food additives
go to The Feingold Association website.

Why did I decide to blog?

I keep asking myself this, because I hate to write.  I have decided to blog because I have so much info that I need to share, in hopes that it will help someone else.  My kids and I have many different reactions to many different things.  I hope that sharing our experiences might help others to take a look at their diet, to try and fix health problems, instead of looking into a pill bottle for the solution.
So, back to me hating to write.  This blog is for informational purposes only, so please excuse any errors in grammar, wrong puncuation, run on or fragmented sentences, and PLEASE, PLEASE, for Pete's sake, if you see my participles dangling, just cover your eyes & move along!