A Time for Gratitude and Love

I LOVE the holidays, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I am so fortunate to have been born into and marry into amazing families. This year we are celebrating two Thanksgivings, one on Thursday with my In Laws out of town, and then heading back home to celebrate again on Saturday with my family. I love it, double the food, double the crazy family time and double the time to be thankful for all that I have. 

For this post I wanted to share a list for all that I have to be gracious for this year. 

1. My family- I love my big crazy family! And we just keep on growing!! With my sister getting married and my other sister getting ready to have her first child I am so excited for the new additions to our clan. I am thankful for my grandparents and all they did to make sure that their family was surrounded by love showing us the true meaning of family. Even though I don't see them as often as I would like I am so thankful for all my cousins who were like brothers and sisters to me growing up! I look forward to celebrating the holidays with my husband and two babies and watching them experience the holidays with newness and wonderment. 

2. My friends- I have been blessed with the greatest friends I could ask for. Even though our lives are much different than when we began our friendships, I love that we can pickup the phone or meet-up after not seeing each other or talking for awhile and it is like nothing has changed. Each and everyone of my friends has a special place in my heart and I enjoy the memories we share with one another. 

3. My health and wellbeing- The breath in my lungs, a sound mind and body and the ability to use the knowledge and experience I have to make decisions regarding my health and the health of my family. I love to learn especially in regards to healthier living and love having the means to research natural health information and share them with others around me. 

4. Food and Shelter- As much as I would like a little bigger house to accommodate our lifestyle I am very grateful for having a roof over our head and healthy food in our bellies. I am thankful for my ability to cook yummy, nutritious meals for my family and friends providing food for our bodies and souls. I enjoy entertaining and spending time with loved ones and having a place for us to gather and spend time together and create memories.

5. Yoga- This could be integrated into #4 but wanted to give it its own special spot on this list. I have been doing yoga for over 20 years and love it more and more each day. I don't get to have a solo practice as much as I would like, but love the fact that I have shared this practice with my children and get to do yoga with them daily (even if its not as quite and serene as my solo practice) I love teaching them about what their bodies can do and hope that they carry this knowledge with them throughout their lives.

There is so much more I could add to this list, making it more and more refined and whatnot, but in a nutshell these are the things I am thankful for. I love the life I live and everyone who plays a part in it. Sending out lots of love and positive energy to everyone during this season of gratitude and love!

Disclaimer:  Please note: I am not a medical professional. Please use your careful discernment and double check with your naturopath or doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.

Why wouldn't the shrimp share his treasure?

Because he was a little shellfish!  HA HA HA Okay no more bad jokes I promise! (at least for this post!)

I made the yummiest pasta dish for dinner a few nights ago. I got the inspiration from Pinterest, it was originally listed as a shrimp fettucini soup but as always I read the recipe when it was time to cook and came up with my own original recipe. It turned out delicious and it was so easy!! Of course I knew once I tasted it that I had to share. My recipe did not come out like a soup, the sauce really reduced and once I added the pasta it really soaked up the liquid and made it like a sauce for the pasta, which I actually think I would like better than if this had been a soup.


Shrimp Fettuchini

Chop 3 cloves of garlic and 1/4 of a white onion in some butter and olive oil in a large saucepan for about 5 minutes. Chop one and a half large tomatoes and add to the garlic and onion. Add some salt & pepper, a dash of red pepper flakes and a pinch of brown sugar. Stir for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes start to get soft. Add a cup of half and half cream and 1/2 a cup of white wine. Zest a small lemon and squeeze the juice into the saucepan. Add shrimp. Chop up some fresh basil and add. Turn the heat down and let everything simmer so that the sauce starts to reduce. Add one tablespoon of flour and continue to let it simmer. Boil fettucini or linguini (I used basil and chive fettucini from Trader Joe's) Drain the pasta once it has cooked and add to the sauce and mix. Let it all marinade for about 5 minutes. Garnish with some basil leaves and enjoy!

Some people may want to tone down the garlic a bit, I happen to LOVE garlic. In fact, my motto is- If your lover doesn't love garlic, find another lover! (okay maybe that's a little harsh!) I would give this recipe a 5 out of 5! It was bursting with flavor and I can't wait for the leftovers which will taste even better with all the flavors marrying.

Buon Appetito!!

Disclaimer:  Please note: I am not a medical professional. Please use your careful discernment and double check with your naturopath or doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.

Potty Training 101

The title of this post implies that I am a potty training expert, which is by no means the actual truth! Potty training was a lot harder for me than I originally anticipated. I was under the impression that because she seemed advanced for her age, that the task would be no problem! Boy was I wrong. I tried almost every method out there, including the Naked $75 method.

This post is to provide information on the methods that I tried as well as some advice based on what I learned from this experience. Hopefully my next attempt will be much easier, although Ive heard that boys are a whole other animal (no pun intended) and look forward to see just how different the experiences are.


I wasn't sure which technique would be the easiest so I wanted to try a little bit of everything until we figured out what worked for us. I bought a seat for the big potty as well as one of the mobile baby potties. She took to the smaller, travel potty first because I she felt scared of sitting on the big one.

Potty Time!- It is important to make a simple act of using the bathroom a joyous one! I tried to literally make potty time like a party! I would invite her to come with me every time I had to go and talk to her about the process (sounds gross I know! Didn't get into any yucky details, just what and why I was doing it!) I tried to encourage her to try it and made a huge fuss when she would go in either the little potty or the big potty! When she would have accidents I wouldn't get upset, I would just reiterate what I  wanted her to do.

One technique said to place the portable toilet in the room that was most used. For us that was the living room as we don't have a playroom. I was a little hesitant to put the potty in the main room, but read about the whole out of sight out of mind theory and decided to try it. It actually worked really well, I would ask her every 10 minutes if she had to go to the bathroom and eventually she would go on her own but it was still intermittent, we had lots of accidents and she still preferred diapers. She actually told me she didn't like how panties felt because she loved diapers and wanted to be a baby like her brother. This was very frustrating to me but I had nothing to do but be patient and keep trying to encourage her to go in the potty like a big girl.

After about months of the off and on accidents I got desperate and moved on to bribing. I would bribe her with everything, show her pictures of Disneyland and let her know that once she didn't wear diapers anymore we could go and she could meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse! This offer intrigued her, but still didn't seal the deal. I decided to try short term bribes taking advantage of her sweet tooth, if she went #2 in the potty we would make cookies or cupcakes that day for her to enjoy. This started to work so I would switch up the prizes, sometimes it was a healthy sweet treat, sometimes it was stickers or a new coloring book (which you can get at Dollar Tree for a great price!) Every time she would go in the potty you would have thought she won an Olympic gold medal! I would jump up and down with excitement, sing, dance, whatever I had to do to show her praise and she loved it!

Even with all the headway we were making, I was still scared to take her out of the house without a diaper on. I was afraid that this was sending her mixed messages so I bought some training pants for when we would make our outings but tried to stay as close to home as I could until she was trained. I was terrified of being out grocery shopping or driving in the car and have an accident occur. I was very excited when we would go out and come back from being out for an hour or so and come back to dry training pants. Once I realized this I knew the dirty job was almost done! Within a few weeks she was completely potty trained (with the exception of diapers during nap time and at night- which we still have yet to master)

Potty training is no easy feat, at least it wasn't in my case. I had an extremely stubborn daughter and had to use a lot of time, patience and bribing to get where I am today. Ultimately I had to wait until she was completely on board for it to work. Even after months of being accident free there were  couple of days where she would have multiple accidents for whatever reason and we had to switch back to training pants for a day or too until we got back on track.

To anyone out there who is currently in potty training hell or getting ready to start the process, patience is key! Don't sweat the small stuff, there will be accidents, some worse than others. The important thing is to remember that it will eventually happen, maybe not in the time frame that you want it to, or even the amount of time it took your friend whose kid was magically potty trained in 2 days. But when was the last time you saw a teenager wearing diapers (I PROMISE your kid will be potty trained well before then!)

Good luck and I would love to hear any potty training stories (good or bad!) that you want to share!!

Disclaimer:  Please note: I am not a medical professional. Please use your careful discernment and double check with your naturopath or doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.

Keep Calm and Get Your Organic On!

So it's the day after voting day and most of America is waking up with a post election hang over. Whether you were really into the presidential portion of it or had a proposition that has a personal impact on your life election day can be both exciting and full of let down. 

I know many Californians who are saddened by the news that Proposition 37 did not pass. I myself am one of them. I was a huge supporter of this proposition for so many reasons- The non-existent testing on GMO affects, the evil corporations that were bankrolling the opposition of labeling, and the fact that I just choose to refrain from consuming un-natural substances and sharing them with my family. I don't care if GMO's are grown (that actually is a huge lie! I wish there were outright banned!), I just feel that as consumers we should have the right to know what we are eating. My GMO article published on NaturalNews.com on election day and I was hoping it would help to provide a little boost to anyone who might still be on the fence with their vote. 

Unfortunately, It appears that due to A LOT of misinformation surrounding this proposition (thanks to the No on 37 group, which is currently under the investigation by the FBI for misrepresenting the FDA and creating fraudulent quotes) the masses voted no. Perhaps it's because many people are so disconnected with their food and don't see the correlation between it and health or too many people were scared that it would raise taxes (a myth which has also been debunked). Whatever the reason, this post is to share with you how to avoid GMO with our without labels. (barring any major cross contamination that may occur in the future- God forbid!) 

Top GMO offenders: 

• Almost all conventional processed foods are GMO.  If it contains corn, soy or sugar (with the exception of 100% sugar cane) in the name- Sorry Charlie, but its been genetically engineered. Soybean oil, fructose, glucose, caramel color, soy lecithin, corn startch- Yep! All been genetically modified. Favorites such as popcorn, most salad dressings, Cheerios and highly processed honey all contains GMO. When you begin to read most labels you will see that its in about 80% of foods on the market. 
• Canola/Rapeseed oil- Canola is a GMO food derived from the rapeseed, which is in the same family as mustard gas! Canola is 80% of Canola has been genetically modified. This oil is cheap and most commonly used in restaurants (along with cheap corn and soy oil) which is why it is virtually impossible to stay GMO free when going out to eat. 
• Many conventional dairy, eggs, meat and any other animal products. This is because the animals diet consists of GMO corn and soy. It is also important to ensure that your dairy is rBGH-free- A GMO growth hormone created by Monsanto to increase milk production by up to 15%. 
• Farmed seafood has a higher GMO risk because most farmers feed their harvest cheap GMO meal so it's best to stick to wild caught.  
• Most fruits and veggies are GMO free (even conventional produce) with the exception of corn, soybeans, beets, zucchini, raddichio, Hawaiian papaya and yellow summer squash. 

Best Ways to Avoid GMO:

• Limit eating out. By cooking at home you can control what you put into your body. I cook about 6 days of the week for my family (3 meals a day) and we eat out about once a week, occasionally more if something pops up. It sounds hard at first, but with enough planning it becomes more manageable, rewarding and fun!
• Buy organic meat and dairy products that say the animals were 100% organic fed or grass fed/finished. 
• Shop at Farmer's Markets or your local Coop and support local farmers. Also avoid non-organic versions of the top GMO crops listed above. 
• Stick to organic grains, legumes, beans, nuts and seeds. Many healthfood stores have great bulk sections!
• Avoid processed and packaged foods and see how easy and delicious making your own is! Stay tuned because in the next few weeks I'm going to share some yummy salad dressings, breakfast bars and kids snacks that promise to be good, healthy and easy-peasy! 
• Buy food labeled 100% Organic or look for the Non-GMO project label- the ONLY label that right now guarantees that something is 100% GMO-free. 
• Grow your own food as much as possible. It can be a fun project for the family!
• Shop GMO free by checking out this GMO free shopping list

I hope you enjoyed this post and I would love for you to share how you avoid GMO's if you have any other ideas to add to the list I would love to hear them!  

Disclaimer:  Please note: I am not a medical professional. Please use your careful discernment and double check with your naturopath or doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.

Flavors of Fall!

It's the end of October and San Diego is just now feeling the beginnings of Fall! My favorite season! Time to bust out the scarves, sweaters and boots! Time for Pumpkin Spice everything and lots of festivities with family and friends. Oh yeah, and who can forget Crock Pots!

I often get asked how I manage to make delicious, homemade dinners 6 times a week. With a little planning, it can become rewarding to prepare these meals rather than feel like a chore! This post will share one of my favorite fall Crock Pot recipes! As always I try to keep my meals as healthy and loaded with nutritious foods as possible! This recipe is low prep, easy and perfect for eating on a crisp fall evening!

My most favorite thing about the crock pot is its very low maintenance. After you throw everything in you can go about your day whether it be heading off to work or chasing the kids around and picking up your living room 900 times a day! It's so nice when at the end of your day your house smells as if someone has been slaving away over dinner, but you haven't done anything since morning.

French Dip Sandwiches

Place a roast in a crock pot and cover with water. Add a dash or two of red wine,  about 1/3 cup of soy sauce and some chopped garlic, sliced onions and maybe even some mushrooms and/or bell peppers. Let everything sit in the crockpot on low heat for 6-7 hours or until the meet is shredded.  With tongs remove meat and any other additions so that just the au jus sauce is left in the crock pot.

Place sliced rolls open faced on a baking sheet and place in the oven set to 300 degrees for about 5 minutes or so to warm the bread. Remove the bread, top with meat and cooked veggies, place a slice of pepper jack or swiss cheese and place back in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese.

Pour some of the au jus sauce in a small bowl and enjoy your delicious meal! You can always make, or buy some horseradish sauce if you want a little extra kick. My favorite is to spread some Trader Joe's Wasabi Mayo on the roll. Mmmmmmmmmm........................

Disclaimer:  Please note: I am not a medical professional. Please use your careful discernment and double check with your naturopath or doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.

Don't Fear the Fever!!!

No one likes to see their little babies sick and in pain. This post is written as to share some information on how to naturally deal with poor, sick little munchkins, specifically to handle one of the most commonly feared symptoms, a fever. It will describe how this indicator should not be feared, but is rather a sign that the body is doing what it is supposed to in order to fight off a sickness.

We recently had a hard week! My son got his first real sickness. It came just after our first trip to Disneyland and I think just being exposed to a large amount of people and germs just took a toll on his immune system. About 2 days after our fun, family adventure he was very fussy and felt VERY hot. I took his temperature and the thermometer read 102!

No Mama likes to see their little baby in pain and a fever as high as that can be pretty scary! Being that my son is my second baby, I feel like I've been around the block and no longer panic when my kids are sick as I did as a first time mom. From previous research, and a quick read through of my homeopathic pediatric books I researched some ways to help make life a little more comfortable for my little man. His symptoms were a high fever, a slight runny nose with clear discharge and he was very very weepy and clingy (but then again aren't most men when they are sick!) My poor boy wasn't his usual happy, smiley self. He wouldn't walk, wouldn't play and had absolutely no interest in laughing at even the funniest behavior. All he wanted to do was lay on me, or lay in bed and sleep. I put him to bed in a onesie, gave him a few Belladonna tablets and put him down with a bottle of almond milk with some Vitamin D drops. I knew the most important thing to do was to monitor the fever (you should contact your doctor if the fever gets to be 104, continues to climb or is at 102 for longer than 3 days) and to make sure that he was getting enough fluids.

I continued to monitor him every hour or so, and gave him Belladonna tablets whenever he seemed really miserable. I have always read that you should let fevers run there course. They are due to the body fighting off a virus and the heat from the fever kills the virus. Breaking the fever before the virus has been killed can actually prolong the sickness. This is why its important to let the fever do it's natural thing and just try to make your itty bitty patient as comfortable as possible. I also gave him a bath with a few drops of essential oils added, Rosemary, Lavender and Tea Tree. These particular oils help the body to stabilize the fever naturally. I offered fluids to him often, most times persisting to make sure that he didn't get dehydrated and made sure to include his vitamins (Multi and D). I could tell he didn't feel good, but he wasn't miserable and suffering and I could tell it was coming to an end.

On the afternoon on the 3rd day of the fever, it was much lower that day and by evening my son was beginning to return to his happy, fun little self. Because he had slept so much those couple of days when it was bed time he wanted to play instead. I let him stay up for a few minutes more to play and put him down confident that the worst was over. When I went to pick him up the next morning and saw a red, bumpy rash all over his face, neck and torso I immediately got nervous and sent a text to my husband. Right after I texted him I remembered back to when my daughter experienced these same symptoms around the same age. I referred back to my books and the internet and knew that he was suffering from Roseola. A very common viral infection that typically occurs in babies 9 month to 2 years of age. The symptoms are actually a lot scarier than the actual illness itself, you just need to keep an eye on your little one and notify your health care provider if you child appears to be dehydrated or the fever is over 104 or persists for too long.

Even with having an entire rash my sweet boy seemed happy and not too uncomfortable. I did give him some chamomilla twice, once before nap and once before bedtime just to make sure he was comfortable and had a good nights sleep to help his body heal. By the next morning his rash was almost completely gone and if it weren't for the slight pink, bumpy spots you would have never known he was sick as he was back to full energy and had his appetite back. Illnesses like this are actually very healthy for children and help them to build up their immune system to develop into healthy adults.

Disclaimer:  Please note: I am not a medical professional. Please use your careful discernment and double check with your naturopath or doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.

Benefits of practicing mind body techniques to facilitate a natural labor

With so many medical interventions and use of drugs during labor it is no surprise that many woman are unfamiliar with the importance of mind body techniques and the benefits they have on labor and post-partum health. Educating women on these techniques early in pregnancy can significantly reduce unnecessary medical processes that are typically seen. For example, Cesarean and Pitocin rates are at 30%, with epidural rates at and astounding 80%. These interventions can cause complications during labor along with side effects in both mother and baby, which can result in trauma.

Pitocin is a synthetic form of Oxytocin and is released into the system via IV, delivering the drug in a steady flow instead of in secreted bursts, which is how the body releases natural Oxytocin. This results in stronger contractions, which may decrease blood flow and can cause distress to both the mother and baby increasing the likelihood of a C-section. Mind body techniques such as yoga, relaxation, imagery, and meditation offer both psychological and physiological benefits to both mother and baby. These techniques help to improve comfort during labor, and shorten the duration of the overall labor time.

Most popular mind body techniques

Yoga is one of the most popular forms of exercise during pregnancy and combines gentle stretching, relaxation and breathing techniques. This ancient practice increases internal awareness and focus that helps create confidence and trust in your body while also bonding with your baby. It can lower blood pressure and prevents and relieves aches and pains that impinge on the body during pregnancy. Yoga builds stamina, relaxes the pelvis, and helps the baby transition into an optimal birthing position.

The relaxation response can significantly improve your overall health and well being. Research has shown that when the relaxation response is used on a daily basis it can reduce feelings of depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, as well as improve blood pressure, immunity, and self-esteem. Relaxation helps to create endorphins, which help to decrease pain during labor, whereas fear causes the release of stress hormones and catecholamine that can increase pain and duration of labor. Meditation and imagery can be effective methods of helping to achieve complete and total relaxation.

Meditation helps to create melatonin, which is released into the bloodstream during stress inducing times. It also produces endorphins that have very powerful pain relieving effects, similar to morphine. The more dedicated the woman is to her prenatal meditation, the less afraid she will be of preconceived pain prior to the onset of labor. This will allow the woman to be less disturbed by any actual pain felt which creates feelings of joy. Frequent practice results in higher levels of endorphins during labor.

Imagery and visualization are other powerful tools for women to practice prior to labor. Envisioning a successful labor can help build confidence in the woman's ability to birth naturally without medical interventions coming into play. Tight and tense muscles can prevent the body from opening, which is essential in order for labor to progress. Practicing imagery and visualization towards the end of your pregnancy and during labor helps to condition the mind and reduce stress and anxiety.

In addition to helping make pregnancy and labor easier, these modalities also help the post-partum body recover quicker. These techniques prevent and treat post partum depression and anxiety by allowing the mother some time to herself to nurture her mind-body connection. With so many physical and hormonal changes going on during this time, it is beneficial for the mother to take some time to decompress and build awareness with her changing body to adapt to each new stage of motherhood.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.bidmc.org
http://www.bidmc.org
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17900044
http://www.birthresourcenetwork.org


Disclaimer:  Please note: I am not a medical professional. Please use your careful discernment and double check with your naturopath or doctor before taking any vitamins or supplements

PAID ENDORSEMENT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.