Mothers shouldn’t use the lack of spare time as an excuse for not nourishing your body temple.  It’s important to nourish and take care of yourself, that way there is more of you to be present for your family when they need you. And just because you are a mum, there is no reason why you can’t look beautiful on the outside too!

Here are a few simple, fun, raw and FAST beauty rituals I like to make time for (using things you already have in your pantry)…

Instant Papaya Facial

When I am cutting up a papaya for my morning smoothie I take the flesh side of skin and rub it all over my face. The enzymes revitalize your face by breaking down dead skin cells. This works best when the papaya is still slightly firm. Just remember to wipe the papaya pulp off before you leave the house!

Coconut & Vinegar Hair Care

To wash my hair once a week, I like to massage coconut oil into my scalp and through my hair the night before and braid it up, sleep with a towel over the pillow and then in the morning shampoo it out and instead of conditioner pour some apple cider through my hair and then rinse the vinegar out (I’ve also used sour home-made kombucha one time when I had run out of vinegar) This hair treatment is so inexpensive and you probably already have coconut oil and vinegar in your pantry anyways.  The coconut oil conditions your hair and its anti fugal and anti microbial properties mean that you’ll never get dandruff. Rinsing your hair with vinegar sounds a bit weird, but trust me it leaves your hair so incredibly soft.

Shower Secrets - Soft Sweet Smelling Skin

This is an awesome balancing in shower treatment for all Aruyvedic body types that cleanses, exfoliates and moisturizer your skin all at the same time. Seriously, you can be out of the shower in under 2 minutes with glowing, soft, sweet smelling skin…

• Mix ½ cup each of coarsely ground salt and sugar together

• Mix together a few tablespoons of cold pressed almond oil and a tablespoon of rose water.

• Then mix the two together and store it in a glass jar within easy reach of the shower

Scoop out a handful while you wait for the water to warm up and rub all over you body. Keep rubbing as you rinse it off under the water.

Done.

How easy was that?

If you like Ruth’s creative ideas, have a peep at her some of her other recent blog posts:

Transform Avocado Stones Into Beautiful Pendants

Chia Fun! Grow Your own Yimmy Fairy Garden

Raw Recipes: Fresh Turmeric Juice

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
Plato

Our 3 1/2 year old loves Star Wars.  He could narrate the whole story of The New Hope, look at Star Wars Encyclopedias, books and role play Luke, Anakin, Han, and all the other characters all day long. We think he is pretty young for the film, so we decided to create a Star Wars curriculum for him.

1. We bought a few and borrow lots of Star Wars books.  Someone even suggested the Wookie Cookbook!

2. I relented and bought a light saber.  Some parents don’t buy guns or swords for their kids, but a stick becomes a weapon anyway.  I bought the light saber as part of his ‘costume’.  He play fights with full gusto as he narrates the stories. It’s amazing how ‘into’ it a young child is when in pretend play.  I was glad to read Play. Yes, You Must by Stuart Brown, the founder and president of The National Institute for Play, because he agrees with play fighting.  He:

“studied a group of young murderers many years ago in Texas… Among many findings was the observation that none of these murderers had engaged in normal rough and tumble play when growing up, as compared to a large matched group also under study. Since then, the human clinical data on the importance of rough and tumble play in the development of social competency has been affirmed.”

3. I found this fun kindergarten curriculum based on Star Wars.  I cannot believe this teacher got away with it, but she did!  Even better that it was on the web for me…  So, like she did, we decorated our son’s desk with a Star Wars table cloth, a coloring book, some glow sticks, stickers, cups and plates.

4. We match words - for sight recognition.

5. Someone recommended having our son write words related to his favorite topic.  He loves it!

6. We have some Star Wars figures which are also used in narration.

7. We bought the Land Speeder Lego set, but our son doesn’t like it because it doesn’t look realistic enough.  Oh well… at least he put some of the Lego characters together.

8. A big bonus or a nightmare - depending on your day - is that we get to play along with him and enter Pretend Land.

P.S. A month later and Star Wars is still an obsession.  We have now introduced the Trilogy, 30 minutes at a time… and FYI we use subtitles so he can ‘read’ at the same time.

Carissa is part of the raw mom team - you can read her personal blogs:

http://thecardinalhouse.blogspot.com/
http://cardinalfoods.blogspot.com/

For many families in the northern hemisphere, it’s back-to-school time.

I just love the sense of optimism that’s part and parcel of a new school year - the smell of new books and freshly sharpened pencils, the change in routine, and, if your children are schooled away from home, their excitement at seeing old friends and getting to know a new classroom teacher.

But if your children do attend school outside home, it’s important to remember that they need to feel completely ‘at home’ when they return home from school each day (especially in those first few potentially stressful days of being in a new class). When they open the front door and dash in in a whirl of bags, books, and sporting equipment, they’re craving a ’soft place to fall’, a respite from the outer world they’ve been inhabiting for most of the day.

Even if your kids absolutely love school, they still crave the feeling of security that home brings - and I believe that it’s our job to create that loving environment. If we set that up for them as children, they’ll know that they can create that nurturing environment for themselves as they grow. Creating a rhythm in their schooldays helps make life a little more predictable and secure.

So, what are some ways that we can create that beautiful, peaceful, ’sigh of relief’ for our children when they return home from a school day?

Here are just a few ideas!

• Have a low-clutter home, where benches, tables and other pieces of furniture are clean and clear.
• Have soft classical music playing in the background.
• Have a vase of softly colored fresh flowers placed in a prominent position.
• Have the table laid with an inviting display of healthy, munchy, tasty snacks, including a fresh glass of water for re hydration (I ask my girls to drink a glass of water as soon as they get home - at least 15 minutes before they eat - because they often forget to drink water during the day!).
• Speak in soft, low tones.
• Depending on the personality of your child, decide whether to wait for them to tell you about their day, in their own time - some children need time to process the day in their mind before they feel comfortable sharing. Follow up their comments with gentle questions that show you really value hearing their news and opinions.
• Sit down and be open for hugs, kisses, giggles and heart-to-heart connections (with lots of eye contact - really important).
• If they’re full of energy after a day cooped up in school without time for physical play (such as on wet-weather days), give them a physical outlet such as dancing inside, or playing in a sheltered area outside.
• Try to stick to a basic after-school routine, and keep after-school, outside-the-home activities to a minimum - give your children time to just play, daydream, read, create, and be KIDS!

I hope these ideas inspire you to create a haven for your children - do you have an after-school routine that works for your family? Would you like to share your ideas with us? If so, we’d love for you to leave a comment below.

Take care, moms!

Love Raw Mom Jo

Joanne Newell is the author of Monkey Mike’s Raw Food Kitchen: An Un-Cookbook for Kids! - and she can show you how to create abundance, vitality, and the life of your dreams through her law of attraction life-coaching business, Rich Radiant Real. To grab a free copy of her luscious, instantly downloadable guide called 7 Ways to Recharge Your Vibration & Attract the Riches of Life, visit Rich Radiant Real.

I wrote this after having processed some huge emotions of grief. When these words flowed through me and I felt the truth of each one, suddenly things seemed clearer, brighter, louder and crisper… Taking responsibility for how you feel is an amazing way to accelerate if you feel stagnant. Pretending everything is OK when it’s not - is a great way to drop anchor!

“I am a perfect half of a complete soul created to enjoy constant bliss, love and creation. It is only errors in my soul that block this eternal experience and existence.

I am not my life.

My life is a perfect manifestation of my true soul desires. With humility and total honesty we can feel the truth that creates us. This is where we are able to take full responsibility for our feelings and experience complete change.

As our personal truths shift, error is released from our soul - allowing more love to flow in - thus altering our life immediately through our soul’s manifestation of life around us.

This increased level of love in your soul then reflects out to everyone and everything around you - immediately allowing others to grow.

Only when you choose to stop the flow of love, will the connection stop. As soon as we choose to judge, project our emotions onto others rather than take responsibility for our own pain - the connection is lost.

At any time we have the opportunity to stop and own how we feel - and be prepared to open our hearts fully in order to experience these painful emotions that need to flow out of you - in order to make room for more love to flow in.

We have the freedom to choose everything that happens, especially the speed of our journey. But it is only when the pain gets sharp enough - that we choose ask for God’s help.

God offers a supersonic, spiritual, superhighway… superior soul surgery… raising us so far and above our rusted realms of possibilities, tears tumble towards our hearts at the magnificence of our creator’s cosmic creation.”

This is taken from my personal blog where I discuss emotional processing and how it changes your law of attraction, thus your life.

Part III. The dreaded school menu, and healthy alternatives to home schooling.

The modern school system is not only flawed in the way it tries to educate our children, it is also flawed in how it feeds them. Many of us have watched, in shock and horror, Jamie Oliver’s attempts at reforming the school menus in the US. Not only are the schools resistant to change, many people don’t even understand where the problem is in the first place!

Curious, I took a look at the local elementary school’s menu. A banner at the top features “I love lunch” and “eat learn live” written on a black board. OK. Below, we can read: “Feeding our students high quality meals that are nutritious and delicious is our top priority. Chartwells’ menus are built to support the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and use recipes that taste great and are lower in fat, saturated fat, trans fats, cholesterol and sodium and provide whole grains, fruits, vegetables and appropriate portion sizes for age. We analyze our recipes for nutrient content and food component into nutrient standard or food-base menu planning that comply with child nutrition guidelines for the National School Breakfast & Lunch programs. Our Balanced Choices Meal Program is a guidance system to assist students in making the most nutritious parameters and is highlighted on the serving line.”

Shouldn’t it be “no trans fat” rather than “lower in trans fat”? But, it could have been for the sake of having a neatly written paragraph. Let’s look at the menu itself. For breakfast, children have, on various day, a choice of pancakes, breakfast taco, a muffin, French toast with syrup, ham & cheese biscuits, sausage patties and the like. Yes, I definitely want my children eating this every day (no, I don’t).

Let’s look at the lunch menu. Cheeseburger on bun. Ham & cheese wrap. Chicken nuggets. I see some “brocolli” (sic) is included. To bad it is misspelled. Turkey Corn Dogs. Beef A Roni. OK! I’ve seen enough. I don’t want my kids eating all this, that’s for sure! And what happened to the “delicious and nutritious”?

You might think: “if only there were schools for healthy vegetarians!” I certainly thought that, which brings me to my second point.

If you have not heard of Waldorf/Steiner schools, you’re in for a treat. While I never sent my children to one, I have heard very good things about them and, to my great surprise, found a Waldorf preschool in my town (nothing above the preschool level though, sadly). I will get back to Waldorf/Steiner schools later in the article. So, what is this preschool about?

According to their website, they are “structured to provide a gradual transition from the life of the home. With a media-free environment, a wide variety of work is found at the preschool that encourages a sense of care and responsibility. We grind our wheat berries, bake bread, cut vegetables, sweep the floor, wash our dishes together, care for the plants, gerbils and fish, and feed our outdoor birds and squirrels.” Children “are given ample opportunity to manipulate and give expression to their ideas with handmade dolls, felted animals, kitchen supplies, logs, boards, and items that change with the mood of the seasons.”

This sounded pretty good! I sent them an e-mail asking about the school’s menu, and I was told that it was all organic and vegetarian. To be honest, I almost fell off my chair reading this! Organic and vegetarian? Are you kidding? I still can’t believe it, but I am certainly grateful. The website explains: “Providing children with wholesome, warm food in a lovely atmosphere is valued as very important for their physical and emotional development. The snack table is set beautifully with placemats and napkin rings in place. After a verse of thanks for our food and friends everyone eats delicious organic food. After snack the children wash their own dishes in warm, soapy water. A sense of thankfulness, caring and responsibility is fostered through snack time.”

I wish there could be a Waldorf/Steiner school beyond preschool where I live, but there is not, and this is why I am preparing myself to home school my child. But, if you can’t home school and can find such an institution, you might want to inquire and see if it fits your child’s needs. The philosophy behind the Steiner system is simple. According to the Waldorf Answers website: “Steiner designed a curriculum responsive to the developmental phases in childhood and nurturing of children’s imaginations. He thought that schools should cater to the needs of children rather than the demands of the government or economic forces, so he developed schools that encourage creativity and free-thinking.” All the usual subjects are taught, such as math, geography, physics, chemistry grammar, poetry etc. but it’s the way they are taught that is different.

Of course, Steiner schools are still schools. They are run by human beings, and children still spend time away from their parents. It is up to you, as a parent, to always be vigilant when it comes to your kids. But, to me, when done well, Steiner education is a very good alternative to regular schools when homeschooling is not desired or possible.

I am confident that at least for the first years of my children’s life, homeschooling will be a great choice. I look at Shakaya’s children who seem to be wonderfully adjusted, and who themselves asked to be sent to school later on, and enjoyed both their earlier homeschooling years and their subsequent years in a regular school. I look at Kate Magic’s child, who started out being homeschooled and then attended a Steiner school when he needed a little more, and her other home schooled kids. I don’t see fearful, crushed children when I look at them. I see strong yet sensitive children who get very good grades without having lost their sense of wonder and magic.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of articles on home schooling, and I am now reaching out to you, Raw Mom readers. If you went to a regular school, did you enjoy it? If you homeschooled your kids, were they then able to attend a good university if they chose to pursue a higher education? Do you feel that your children were adequately socialized?

Joanna Steven is the co-author with Tonya Kay of the first ever Raw Nutritional Analysis eBooks, detailing Tonya Kay’s diet for an entire month. She is also the co-owner of the online raw food store, http://www.sirova.com, and writes about raw food related topics on her blog, http://joannasteven.blogspot.com. Her next book on raw food pregnancies will be available on the Raw Mom website this winter 2010.

Part II. Are parents qualified to home school? And what about socialization?

As parents, we can only do what we think is best, follow our heart, and hope everything works out. As a child, my mom had to attend a Christian school run by nuns. She swore that when she would have kids, she would send them to a secular school only, and she did.  She didn’t enjoy her school, and wanted us to have a better experience. Unfortunately, I don’t think my experience was better than hers, and my younger sister even opted later on to attend the same school my mother went to because she could not stand the one we used to attend. How are we supposed to guess what’s best? We can’t. We can only do what we think is best, and sending my children to the same schools which made me sick with anxiety and worry does not really sound like the best thing to do.

One issue which often comes up with homeschooling is the lack of socialization of home schooled kids. But really, how much socialization does one do while being chastised by a professor, or having to sit still without talking for 6 hours? Is socialization really something we do while eating low quality food in a noisy, unruly cafeteria? And what would be the quality of such interactions? I am fully aware that socializing my children will take a big effort on my part, being quite the introvert, but I am fully prepared for it.

I know that the time wasted in classrooms will be better spent sending my children to martial art classes, music classes, art classes, meeting like minded friends for outdoor adventures and more. Since they will not be buried under repetitive and redundant homework assignments, will not waste time studying something over and over again just so that a few other students can catch up, and will not see their energy levels go down after eating corn dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast (these are common school lunches at the local middle school, I kid you not!), they will have a lot more free time to enjoy such activities with their peers, and I see nothing wrong with it. Yes, a child can be properly socialized without school.

School is not the requirement for socialization, other children are. It’s as simple as that. Of course, keeping a child at home and not letting him see anyone would not allow him to develop healthy relationships, but what people have to understand is that home schooling is not necessarily “nothing but home” schooling. Still, despite my education and my steady attempts at becoming more acquainted with the magical world around me to share my knowledge with my children, many people are worried that they will become “weird” (a word I have heard a lot more than once!). To me, the issue is not having kids interact with each others. They will receive quite a lot of socialization through various activities, and my husband and I do intend on making similar-minded friends so that our children can grow up to be friends.

Another issue brought up by homeschooling detractors is the fact that parents cannot teach their children everything. I agree that after a certain point, it might become a bit difficult, for me at least. The first few years however do not scare me the least bit. I went through a lot of schooling in my life, mostly because school had broken my spirit and,  while I excelled at studying, I could do very little else. By age 18, when I started Law school, I had stopped drawing, painting, playing the guitar etc., and had nothing but poetry left to express myself. On the other hand, I had plenty of time to study. I amassed quite a lot of knowledge in both French, British and American literature, I became quite good at mathematics and chemistry, I can speak French and English fluently (and it would take very little effort for me to be fluent in Spanish as well), I have a Law degree, a Psychology degree  (I am currently working on the second half of my Masters degree), and plan to get a degree in Holistic Nutrition as well. I am also trying hard to get better acquainted with wild foods, and delight in gathering nettles and mulberries in the spring and summer. And for subjects like physics and electronics, I am thankful to have a husband who can take the role of teacher when I feel a little overwhelmed (unlike math, I never found in me a hidden talent for physics!). Does that mean that all hope is lost for less-educated parents?

Of course not! People put too much weight on regular education. Osho once wrote “You can write books, you can have degrees, you can have PhDs and LittDs, and still you remain the same ignorant person you have always been. Those degrees don’t change you; they can’t change you. In fact, your stupidity becomes stronger; it has degrees now!” While these words are a bit on the strong side, I think we have to agree that degrees don’t mean a person is smart. Yes, we can send our kids to a school to be taught by well-educated people, but what do we really know about them? Do we put so much faith in a simple degree that we are willing to let these people spend more time with our children that we do? Isn’t it even a little bit scary? Yes, some parents may be incapable to teach their children everything they need to know, but I don’t think school teachers are any more qualified just because of a piece of paper.

We have to understand one important, vital thing, life is about more than academics, and children who spend all their time in classrooms are missing out on a lot. What would be better than to take my child and his/her friends to the forest for a hands-on biology class? What would be more amazing than giving them the opportunity to try out various chemistry experiments, both in the real world and at home, instead of being restricted by time to just a few experiments (we all remember mixing vinegar with baking soda to make volcanoes. Clearly life is about more than that!). And what’s the use of taking art classes in stuffy classrooms? Wouldn’t going out and painting nature as it really is a much better use of our time? And let’s not even talk about athletics. I am certain that running on the grass, going to the pool when most of the kids are indoors, climbing trees and cross country skiing is a lot better than jumping on tired gym mattresses while all the kids are judging each other.

This concludes the second article in the series. The next article will be about the food served at regular schools, and what alternatives exist for parents who do not wish their kids to attend a regular school but cannot home school.

Joanna Steven is the co-author with Tonya Kay of the first ever Raw Nutritional Analysis eBooks, detailing Tonya Kay’s diet for an entire month. She is also the co-owner of the online raw food store, http://www.sirova.com, and writes about raw food related topics on her blog, http://joannasteven.blogspot.com. Her next book on raw food pregnancies will be available on the Raw Mom website this winter 2010.

Is anything really wrong with our modern school system?

Homeschooling. Few things are as dividing as the simple concept of teaching our children at home. This definition, however, could be a big part of the problem. People against homeschooling often imagine a child staring longingly out of the window at other children playing in the school yard during recess, while an often uneducated mother wastes his formative years keeping him cooped up at home. To me, while this scenario might happen sometimes, it is not an accurate image of what homeschooling can (or should) be.

After doing a quick survey of my friends and family members, I realized that very few of us have fond memories of school. Condescending teachers, unfair punishments, the feeling of wasting one’s time while unruly students have to be unsuccessfully disciplined, studying subjects for hours knowing full well most of them would be completely useless a few years down the road… These are only a few reasons why school is rarely considered a happy place for kids.

I am no exception. Sure, when I was little and had my first Christmas vacation, I actually cried not understanding why I wasn’t going to school anymore. Later on, I had some very good professors who made me look forward to attending their class (if not school in general). Now, though, I am seriously considering homeschooling my child (I am currently pregnant and taking a good hard look at the so-called necessary institutions). What happened to me along the way? What turned me from a school-loving little girl into an anxious, and even fearful child and adolescent?

While preschool was apparently quite fun for me (I have no memories of it), school quickly became a nightmare. By age 6, I had recurrent stomach cramps due to stress, and gradually, I started wishing I could be homeschooled. There were several subjects in which I naturally excelled, such as French literature, but a few like math gave me a lot of grief. I realize now that the fear of being called up to the front of the class, the humiliation of getting bad grade after bad grade, and my general feeling of hopelessness were a big reason why I felt like giving up. I thought I was irremediably bad at math, but as soon as I got a private tutor, my grades went up, to the surprise of my teachers.

Later on, in college, I enrolled in advanced math courses and suddenly found myself at the top of my class (without the need for private lessons).  And while everyone thought I was hopelessly bad at chemistry, once in college, I suddenly was at the top of my class and was asked by the Dean to tutor others. Obviously, the problem was not with me, but I had never thought homeschooling was possible. I even thought at the time that it was probably against the law to not send your children to school!

This is why I think our school system is flawed. In a perfect world, every child would be nurtured and able to enjoy every class. I know full well, and most people will agree with me, that a teacher can make or break a class. I remember that my French grammar and literature teacher in 9^th grade was an absolute nightmare, and my grades were not very good with her. The year before as well as the next, I had two different wonderful teachers who loved anything French, and I had great grades with them. I didn’t suddenly become dumb and unable to “apply myself”, I just was not motivated by my teacher. It’s really simple, if a child is excited about a subject, he or she will do well, or at least much better than in the same class with an inept professor.

Our modern school system is also made to teach children about competition, what a necessary thing it (supposedly) is, and how important it is to try and be in the teacher’s good books. But many studies in the field of psychology have shown that teachers actually have to take a back seat, and let each child be a necessary part of a group in order to maximize learning. As long as classes are designed with each child sitting by him or herself and staring at a teacher standing in from of the group, the outcome will never be satisfactory. Because of this, I see modern schools as simply day care for older children. Children are sent there to be out of their parents’ hair, and to supposedly learn great life skills. But how many of us can look back at our school years and feel that they were amazingly formative, useful, and full of good memories? Personally, I cannot, and I cannot in good conscience send my child to go through the same experience without at least researching various local schools and keeping a close eye on my child’s development.

Unfortunately, schools do not create happy individuals, and it is a sad fact that when a human being is unhappy, he or she will seek to hurt others. After all, misery loves company. In my readings of Buddhist writings, I realized early on that no person is evil, but that unhappiness can lead a person to commit evil things. The world is often shocked to hear about school shootings, bullying which lead to suicides, and other horrible events. But, should we really be so shocked? I personally believe that many more tragedies happen, and we are not told about them. I guess someone has to die for the news to spread. But so many children die inside every day because of what happens to them at school, and these tragedies go unnoticed.

I need so make something clear. I do know that the world is full of hurt and unhappy people, and my goal is not to shield my children from this ugliness. But I also do not think I should knowingly thrust them into such a toxic environment just to teach them that “life isn’t fair” and “it will build their character”. We wouldn’t put our kids in jail to teach them about human nature, but we pay institutions money to keep them locked up for more than half the day to “socialize”. Clearly, there must be better ways to help our children learn about the world, develop friendships, etc. without sending them to sub-par schools where we ourselves were most likely unhappy.

This concludes the first article in the series. The next article will be about socialization, why homeschooling can be better than regular traditional schools, and whether or not parents can actually teach their kids everything they should know.

Joanna Steven is the co-author with Tonya Kay of the first ever Raw Nutritional Analysis eBooks, detailing Tonya Kay’s diet for an entire month. She is also the co-owner of the online raw food store, http://www.sirova.com, and writes about raw food related topics on her blog, http://joannasteven.blogspot.com. Her next book on raw food pregnancies will be available on the Raw Mom website this winter 2010

[Editor's Note: This article first appeared in The Birthkit Issue 38, Summer 2003 and was updated by the author in April 2007.]

Garlic kills yeast. Those who bake bread know not to add garlic while the dough is rising or it will kill the yeast. Instead, garlic is added to the dough after it has risen, just before baking it in the oven.

A fresh garlic clove can easily cure a yeast infection. The trick is to catch the infection early. A woman who suffers from frequent yeast infections knows the feeling well. The first day, she feels just a tickle of itchiness that comes and goes. The next day, or sometimes two or three days later, the vaginal discharge starts to look white and lumpy like tiny bits of cottage cheese. By this time, she has a full-blown yeast infection and the lips of the vagina are often red and sore.

If a woman can pay attention to the first tickling of the yeast infection, she can use the following treatment. Take a clove of fresh garlic and peel off the natural white paper shell that covers it, leaving the clove intact. At bedtime, put the clove into the vagina. In the morning, remove the garlic clove and throw it in the toilet. The garlic often causes the vagina to have a watery discharge. One night’s treatment may be enough to kill the infection, or it might have to be repeated the next night. Continue one or two days until all itchiness is gone. The reason that the treatment is done at bedtime is that there is a connection between the mouth and the vagina. The moment the garlic is placed in the vagina, the taste of the garlic travels up to the mouth. Most people will find this strong flavor annoying during the day, so the treatment is recommended for nighttime.

If the infection has advanced to the point that a woman has large quantities of white discharge and red sore labia, it can still be treated by garlic but with a higher dose. Use a dry tissue to remove some of the discharge, then take a clove of garlic and cut it in half. Put it in the vagina at bedtime and repeat this for a few nights. If there is no improvement, she might consider a conventional over-the-counter treatment because it is a shame to suffer for many days. Remember that a woman should never douche during a vaginal infection. Yeast loves water and any water will make it grow faster.

Any cut in the clove makes the activity of the garlic stronger. Thus, the more of the inside of the clove that is exposed, the higher the dose. Each woman should learn the dose that works best for her, from the lowest dose, an uncut clove, to a clove with one or more small fingernail slits, to a clove cut in half.

If a high dose of garlic, a cut-open garlic clove, is inserted in a healthy vagina, it will often “burn” the healthy skin. When the woman is suffering from an advanced yeast infection, the skin is already red and “burned” and the garlic cures the infection by killing the yeast. Then the skin repairs itself. By the way, veterinarians have been using garlic to heal infections in livestock for many years. If drug companies could patent garlic and make money off of it, they would be advertising it everywhere!

Garlic has been shown in vitro (in laboratory petri dishes) to kill bacteria also. In some important research done in China (1), garlic was shown to inhibit the growth of all of the following microorganisms:Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium phlei, Streptococcus faecalis, Bacillus cereus and Micrococcus luteus.

Researchers found that garlic lost its antibacterial activities within 20 minutes of being boiled at 100° C. At the Maxwell Finland Laboratory for Infectious Diseases in the Boston Medical Center, researchers examined the use of garlic for ear infections (2). They found that fresh garlic was bacteriocidal, killing even the dangerous bacterium Streptococcus agalactiae (commonly known as Group B Strep) but is heat- and acid-labile and loses activity when cooked or taken by mouth.

Group B Strep (GBS) can kill newborns, most commonly premature babies. Current U.S. protocols call for culturing women toward the end of pregnancy to see if they are GBS carriers, since newborn strep infections occur more often-but not exclusively-in babies of women who culture positive for beta-strep. About 15 to 30 percent of women carry the beta-strep bacterium, the vast majority without any symptoms, although at least two women with GBS vaginitis have been documented (3). The risk of contracting GBS by infants probably increases with the quantity of GBS in the birth canal (4). Between 1-3 in 1,000 babies develop beta-strep infections after birth (5). Many of these infections may be iatrogenic, caused by the hospital protocols. The strep bacillus originates in the anus. When the membranes are ruptured, fluid washes down and out of the vagina-until someone checks the cervix. Every time a cervical check is done, the examiner may carry GBS up on his or her gloved finger and deposit it on the cervix. Inserting an internal electro-fetal monitor electrode or an internal monitoring catheter also opens a pathway for bacteria to enter. Any of these scenarios could also explain why length of time after rupture of membranes correlates with infection rate. No randomized controlled studies have been undertaken comparing women with no vaginal checks or internal monitors to women with frequent vaginal checks. Intrapartum prophylaxis with intravenous antibiotics, preferably targeted on GBS-colonized parturients with risk factors, is, at present, considered the “new standard of care.” However, its efficacy and safety at preventing early-onset infection is still in debate. [Editor's Note: See "Facing the Challenge of Group B Strep" in Midwifery Today, Issue 63, Autumn 2002.] Vaginal chlorhexidine disinfection during labour in GBS-colonized women may, in addition, offer a minor contribution to prevention. Chlorhexidine is a compound with plaque-inhibiting effects and available only by prescription in the U.S.* Its side effects include staining of teeth, restorations and the tongue, bitter taste and other disturbances, such as dryness of the mouth and development of oral ulceration (6).

A fresh garlic clove inserted into the vagina for one or two nights will also, most likely, reduce the colonization of the vagina with GBS, with no known side effects, besides garlic breath. But none of the funding agencies or drug companies are interested in providing support for research-likely because the product could not be patented. Chlorhexidine vaginal gel or wash reduces GBS colonization, so the idea of using local measures is not too radical. But at this time, a clinical trial in the U.S. to demonstrate efficacy of these topical methods will be almost impossible, given the established standard of care (intrapartum antibiotics) established by the CDC. So garlic experiments to reduce neonatal GBS will have to take place outside of the U.S.

Garlic protocol:

• Break a clove off of a bulb of garlic and peel off the paper-like cover. Cut in half. Sew a string thru it for easy retrieval.
• Put a fresh half in your vagina in the evening before you go to sleep. Most women taste garlic in their mouths as soon as it is in their vagina, so it is less pleasant to treat while awake.
• In the morning, the garlic may come out when you poop. If not, many women find it is easiest to take it out on the toilet. Circle the vagina with a finger, till you find it. It cannot enter the uterus through the cervix. It cannot get lost, but it can get pushed into the pocket between the cervix and the vaginal wall.
• Most people will taste the garlic as long as it is in there. So if you still taste it, it is probably still in there. Most women have trouble getting it out the first time.
• For easy retrieval, sew a string through the middle of the clove before you put it in. You don’t want to get irritated. Be gentle. Don’t scratch yourself with long nails.

Judy Slome Cohain, CNM, has run All the Way Homebirth practice in Israel since 1983. She would love to hear from women who have tried to change a positive GBS culture to a negative one by using garlic. Please email her at judyslome@hotmail.com with the outcomes, which will be collected for future research.

References

1. Chen, H.C., Chang, M.D., Chang, T.J. (1985) Antibacterial Properties of Some Spice Plants Before and After Heat Treatment. [English translation of Chinese article]. Zhonghua Min Guo Wei Sheng Wu Ji Mian Yi Xue Za Zhi 18: 190–5.
2. Klein, J.O. (1999) Management of Acute Otitis Media in an Era of Increasing Antibiotic Resistance. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 49: S15–17.
3. Honig, E., Mouton J.W., van der Meijden, W.I. (1999) Can Group B Streptococci Cause Symptomatic Vaginitis? Infect Dis Obstet Gynecol 7: 206–09.
4. Christensen, K.K, Dykes, A.K., Christensen, P. (1985) Reduced Colonization of Newborns with Group B Streptococci Following Washing of the Birth Canal with Chlorhexidine. J Perinat Med 13: 239–43.
5. Irving, W.L. Best Practice in Labour Ward Management. Edited by L.H. Kean, P.N. Baker and D. Edelstone. London: WB Saunders, 2000.
6. Albandar, J.M., Gjermo, P., Preus, H.R. (1994) Chlorhexidine Use after Two Decades of Over-the-counter Availability. J Periodontol 65: 109–12.

© 2003 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved.

Dear Passionate People-Lover,

With all this talk about oil spills and ozone layers it can be a pretty overwhelming to talk about “saving the planet”. Especially when you consider the fact that so many of us are struggling to save ourselves! The fact is, the rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, ADD, autism and infertility are rising as fast as the rates of green house gas emissions!

This is no coincidence!

It’s no accident that in a world of soda pop, plastic wrap, and microwaveable meals, we’ve started to see a lot more diabetes, arthritis, obesity and even cancer taking the lives of the people we love. Let’s look at the facts:

• World Watch Magazine reported that over 50% of annual greenhouse gas emissions come from animals raised for food.
• A UN Report supports the fastest solution to reducing ghg emissions is transition to a plant-based diet.
• Eating a plant-based diet dramatically reduces the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

Essentially, if we add up all the cars and factories and things that give off toxic gases it still doesn’t beat the greenhouse gas emissions coming from the cows, pigs, chickens, goats and other animals we use for “food.” And the bottom line is that if we stopped using these animals for food, we would improve our overall health and well-being.

I see a win-win situation happening here!

Maybe before we start saving up for solar panels, we could sprout clover and just start eating more fruits and vegetables? Maybe instead of spending millions of dollars in environmental debates, we could plant Swiss chard and wheat grass in our window sills?

Meet Two Young Girls Making a Difference:

These two young girls are members of the Lower East Side Girls’ Club. They are doing some pretty cool things to make the world a better place to be.

One of their projects is a bicycle-powered blender. They take this to different schools in low-income districts and teach other kids about the importance of eating well and getting exercise.

They’re living in the Lower East Side of New York City where most kids’ lunch has the nutritional value of playdough. The children in this area don’t spend a lot of time hearing about the importance of proper nutrition, fitness and health. And unfortunately, their parents know that soda pop is cheaper than broccoli and fresh organic pears.

With a bit of support and extra funding these girls along with the rest of the members of the Lower East Side Girls Club could help get this information out to a lot more people and change the way our future leaders think about food and reduce a few greenhouse gas emissions while they’re at it!

The BiG Idea:

We think the world needs more good news.

We don’t need any more depressing conversations about oil spills. We need community, cooperation, and something to believe in to help inspire hope in a better tomorrow!! We want to believe in something better than the headlines on the newspaper.

Take a moment to look in the eyes of the little people out there.

They are the next generation. They’re the ones who will be left behind to take responsibility for a world we can only imagine. But we can start now to create a better place for them. And so we’ve decided that one of the best things we can do to make a difference is to encourage people to eat a lot more local fruits, vegetables, and green food AND support the education programs that create change for the people who need it most.

Kids!

Enter the Green Smoothie: Meet Victoria: The Queen of Green Smoothies

Victoria Boutenko is most known for her kitchen experiments that led to the discovery of “green smoothies”. Challenged with health problems and committed to the raw food diet, Victoria set to work on finding solutions by researching a healthier way to eat and live. Blending greens like kale, spinach, parsley and other leafy greens led to dramatic discoveries and she’ll share more about those and give tools for green smoothie living in this preparatory interview to be shared with all participants of the program.

If you’ve never experienced the pleasure of a green smoothie, then you’re in for a surprise. It’s healthy, it’s easy to make and everyone loves them! If you can buy local fruits, leafy greens and you have a half-decent blender, then you can make yourself the most popular health drink out there these days!

In honor of International Green Smoothie Day August 15th, 2010

We’ve put together a 10-day green smoothie challenge, and we’re inviting 10 BiG thinkers to share their most inspirational wisdom for green living with us over 10 days. We’re giving 100% of the money we receive for admission to this event to the Lower East Side Girls Club.

Here’s the deal:

• 10 days of green smoothies
• 10 inspiring interviews with BiG thinkers
• 10 dollars to participate
• 100% of the registration fee goes to support the Lower East Side Girls Club’s and their health and nutrition program.

The BiG Objective:

To raise $10 000 to support funding of the Lower East Side Girls’ Club’s health and nutrition program for the next year.

Read more about this project and how to get involved!!

There’s a great video to watch that explains it all too.

Morning everyone!

Phew - I don’t know about you - but the last 2 weeks were amazing! So many beautiful articles, tips and insight from wonderful speakers and from YOU.

I love the interaction between Rawmom and all you Rawmoms out there - it’s key to growing together and creating an honest, loving and open community.

We all have our own opinions and seldom are they palatable to everyone. Opinions are born from parental conditioning, culture, personal circumstance, personal trauma - amongst many other things. Discussion is a great way to grow and learn from one another, so I felt it would be a great start to post YOUR responses to the most controversial wisdom nugget of pregnancy month. Circumcision, by our Jewish Raw Mom Karen Ranzi.

I would like to thank each and every one of you for feeling able to express yourselves clearly, I am honored that people feel able to express themselves without judgment. It is important to remember that judgment of others is really judgment of ourselves. We and we alone are responsible for our own personal actions and feelings. As soon as we feel the need to attack or judge someone for expressing themselves - we are in error and need to feel why we are so provoked by this opinion.

Reactions are to be expected, and anger when triggered is a great place to start looking at injuries within our souls. Often anger is capping emotion to grief. It is easier to feel anger than grief as anger is a powerful feeling, whereas grief is a very vulnerable feeling. Vulnerable is a very open place to be - and many of us are scared to feel this way for fear of pain.

When you read your replies to Karen Ranzi’s article on Circumcision - please note your own reactions, and take responsibility for your reaction. It is very unloving when people do not take responsibility for their own emotional reactions and choose to project anger at others - that is not our intention here on rawmom.

“As a Jewish woman I strongly believe in the practice if circumcision.  I firmly believe in the laws given to us by G-d as absolutely just and necessary (even if they don’t “make sense ” to me.)

I do believe that I have read research opposite of which you state that there are definite health benefits from the procedure.

Please do more research and in the future I would appreciate not getting emails which trample on my (and many others) religious beliefs.”

“As a mom, who was severely “trust” challenged because of “poor” childhood/adult experiences, for the past 10 years, I have been working extremely diligently at loving my own children well.  In doing so, I have made some very difficult and pain-staking decisions on what’s best for them.

Because I have gained helpful insights each day when I open the “wisdom nuggets”, I was looking forward to opening this one.  However, and to the fault of no one, I am left with a deep sense of sadness and regret because of the decision we made 6 years ago to circumcise our son so he wouldn’t be “laughed at and would look like dad and stay cleaner.

At the time, I felt a strong need NOT to do it and read everything I could find on the subject, as I had wanted to protect and nurture and love well all our precious innocent babies.  But my husband on the other hand…”

“Thank you so much for this. I totally agree.

In turn, I feel animals should not be castrated — that it’s *not* the obvious response to overpopulation. I mean, we don’t see it as the obvious response to human overpopulation…and I don’t think we’re going to exercise our brains voluntarily toward coming up with better responses until castration is ruled out as one.

I wonder if Raw Mom might consider expanding the definition of ”Mom” to pet parents as well. I think that’d be so, so, so awesome. Well, thanks again, for everything you’re doing!”

“I have to say I was quite dismayed to see such a skewed and inaccurate article coming from Raw Moms.

Circumcision did not start in 1880 - that’s ridiculous! It started 4000 years ago when Almighty God chose Abraham as His own, to be a nation. Religious or not, you can’t deny that circumcision has a very long and side-effect free history. In fact, the Jews became much more robust than their neighbors for thousands of years, and every male was circumcised. Also, they were commanded to circumcise the infants on the 8th day of birth. Well, if you know about infant vitamin K production you know that it and other clotting elements peak on the 8th day outside the womb, making circumcision (performed as it was in ancient times) perfectly safe. Yes it hurts a little, but so does the stupid heel prick thingy we have to do, and heaven forbid, vaccinations.

Come on now. This isn’t Fox news or CNN. Please sort the “spin” into the trash bin and send out real wisdom to your readers.”

“Karen Ranzi is not correct in one of her facts.  Circumcision actually began well before the 1800’s.  It began many years before Christ’s birth.  It is probably explained in the documentary which you mention.”

“I knew there would be some angry reaction to this article. It is never well received but someone must tell the truth.  1880 was date when routine circumcision began in the U.S. Circumcision in Jewish history goes way back but there are many Jews today, including rabbis, who have chosen to change this ritual to an alternative bris which spares the boy of circumcision but still celebrates the religious rite. I am Jewish as is Laurie Evans, who wrote the chapter on the Harm of Circumcision for my book.” Karen Ranzi

“I really needed this nugget for reassurance - thank you so much for sharing it!!!!!!”

“Well done for posting this post about this very touchy issue. So just you know, there is a growing movement even within the orthodox Jewish community who are against circumcision and would not do it, even though their religion is demanding this.

I am married to a Jew, and even though my baby boy would have not been technically a Jew, (since I am not Jewish) We had heated discussions with many of the family members on my partner’s side about circumcising our child if it is a boy. The moment a religion I practice demands the member of its congregation to mutilate their child
is the moment I would leave that group/religion and would search for my own truth.

I have attended many circumcision ceremonies and could not stay in the room while it was performed, neither could the mother of the child…. The baby does feel the pain, it is a brutal procedure, and yes it can lead to many serious side effects.”

“I really wish that people see it for what it really is, which is the violation of the child’s body with no justifiable health reason whatsoever.

Thank you again for posting it and bravo for Karen Ranzi for speaking up so bravely about it!!!!”
“I just read in the Globe and Mail in the morning: New research shows that children can carry permanent “pain memory” from their experience of untreated pain- which means a needle can create a fearful patient for lie. Romeo Ranoco/Reuters
They are talking about getting a needle, but what about circumcision, obviously that is even more painful….”

“I think you did a fine job.  I’m right there with you.  My boys are “in tact.”  I couldn’t fathom cutting off part of their bodies!  I didn’t even like the heel stick for the blood test!  :) I enjoy your newsletters.”

“Your topic brought me to tears again as my son is now 23 and I KNEW NOTHING about this back then. I only found out when he was 5 or 6 and was so wrenched with guilt I thought I would die.

I am sobbing now for sadness for all boys that have had to endure this trial. I wish I had known sooner but that was not to be

Thank you for bringing this up here to let the truth be known!! It is grossly unnecessary to circumcise and CRIMINAL to do so, just as it is to cut off puppy tails. GRRRRRR!

Thank you for your loving information and guidance in care of our beloved children!”

“THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!

We chose not to circumcise - and it’s nice to know there is more support for this choice.”

“I forwarded that circumcision info to my 25 yr old son who I didn’t have circumcised. His father was German so he did match his dad, but I would not have wanted to have it done anyway!

His father always said he felt like he had so much more sensitivity in that area than American men. I loved reading even more reasons why it was a good idea. I appreciate your pointing out to us what the rest of the world is doing, to give perspective when moms are making choices.

Like the military families, sometimes folks don’t want to look at why they choose certain knee-jerk responses (such as sending a child off to war), esp when it is painful to their children. That is the only reason I can imagine it would be controversial. You just have to have compassion that they HAVE to justify their choices as sane to keep going. Spirit expresses through everything, so all is good anyway! : )”

“Many parents today realize that if they had been given accurate information about circumcision, they would never have let anyone circumcise their baby. I am one of those parents, and that is why I do the work that I do…”

Mariln Fayre Milos, R.N., Founder and Executive Director of NOCIRC

Read Karen Ranzi’s article on Circumcision

Raw Mom’s Pregnancy Page - archived articles and wisdom nuggets

National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers