Amy gave birth to Isaac in July of 2004. Though she wanted a drug free, natural delivery, hers was not. When Isaac was three days old, Amy and her husband, Joel, rushed him to hospital. His lips, hands, and feet were tinged with blue and neither his parents nor the paramedics could wake him. In the ER, he choked on vomit and could not breathe without intervention. He was admitted for overnight observation. Naturally Amy was anxious. Later that night, home without her baby, she experienced a panic attack.

When Amy told her home health nurse about the panic attack, the nurse told her that her attack was a sure sign of impending post partum depression and advised her to start on medication as soon as possible. The nurse called and made an appointment for Amy to see her doctor. When Amy saw her doctor, she tried to tell him what had happened, but he interrupted her, asking only what the home health nurse had advised. He started her on samples of Zoloft, telling her it was imperative they treat her post partum anxiety aggressively as it would get only worse, possibly dangerous without medication. She asked him to check her thyroid levels as she was taking Synthroid. He refused. Within hours Amy felt detached from her baby, her family, her emotions. Within days, the nightmare began.

“As I…walked past the stairs to our bedroom to lay the baby in his bassinet, I hallucinated – I saw myself standing about half-way down the stairs, throwing the baby down.” Thoughts of killing the baby and killing herself continued. Terrified to be alone with her child or alone by herself, nine days after the baby was born, Amy voluntarily checked herself into the psychiatric ward of the hospital only to be committed on an involuntary hold. It was there that she first read a circular that listed the side effects of Zoloft. But when she questioned the doctor about the obvious correlation between her symptoms and possible side effects, she was told it was impossible for the drug to cause her symptoms since she had been on it for such a short time. Instead of taking her off of Zoloft, her dose was increased. Amy was released from the hospital when she pretended her symptoms had abated, with the agreement she would stay on the medication.

After her release, the thoughts of killing her baby and herself continued. Each time the dosage of Zoloft was increased, the violent thoughts got worse. Every object became a way to kill the baby. That knife? She could stab him. Ribbon? She could choke him. Amy was so fearful of these horrific thoughts, she refused to be alone with the baby. Either her mother (who was staying with them) or her husband were with her at all times. In time, her homicidal thoughts grew to include her husband, her parents, and the family pets.

The thoughts never abated. In time, with each increase in dosage, the only difference Amy experienced was an eerie emotional detachment. Her mind chatter told her it was only a matter of time before she chose the means and killed her baby. Against her doctors’ advice, Amy finally made the decision to discontinue taking Zoloft. She titrated down and stopped the medication four months after starting it.

“Since I stopped taking Zoloft, I feel normal. I take care of Isaac by myself and stay socially active. I never feel out of control like I did on Zoloft, but the memories of losing my grip on sanity will never go away. Never again will I subject myself to drugs to ‘heal’ my mind.”

Zoloft and other anti-depressants are associated with homicidal and suicidal ideation. Increasingly, we hear stories of teens and adults who kill themselves or others while on these drugs. And though the accompanying literature clearly states thee horrific side effects as a possibility, doctors Amy Philo who prescribe these do not always listen to their patients’ concerns or dismiss them as the primary symptom rather than a side effect as they did in Amy’s case.

Amy’s anxiety was understandable and clearly caused by lack of sleep, the stress of childbirth, and a terrifying episode with her son. Her anxiety was also heightened by her prescription medication for thyroid as her blood levels were much too high.

Amy launched UNITE, an online information resource about the dangers of psychiatric drugs. On her site you will find personal stories, information about current and proposed laws, and links to additional resources.

Amy wants everyone to be aware of the Mothers Act. This legislation has passed the House with only three “no” votes and is now awaiting a vote by the Senate. This is dangerous legislation that will set up a nation-wide screening and “education” campaign to encourage the use of anti-depressant drugs and other psychiatric drugs for pregnant women and new mothers. Drugs like Zoloft. For more information on the Mothers Act and to learn more about UNITE, visit Amy’s site www.uniteforlife.org.

Chiropractic care is becoming popular. If you don’t believe us, just look around. In a big city like Atlanta, everywhere we turn we see a chiropractor’s office. It’s enough to make you wonder if chiropractic offices and nail salons are a prerequisite for a permit to build a strip mall.

In years past, conventional medical doctors were quite vocal with their distrust and lack of respect for chiropractic care. Rather than view chiropractic as an alternative treatment modality, they called it quackery and did their best to dissuade their patients from trying spinal manipulation, even when chiropractic was the treatment of last resort before spinal surgery.

There seems to be a shift in perception. Today more doctors will support or even recommend chiropractic care in cases of injury, though few agree with the true tenants of chiropractic care.

At the heart of chiropractic practice lies the belief that a perfectly aligned body will heal itself of disease or injury. For many years the belief was that subluxation (the spine being out of alignment or “out of place”) was the only cause of poor health or disease. Dr. Kelly tells us,” There was a study done at a medical university back in the 1920s, I believe. They looked at a thousand people who had died and traced the nerve fibers from the organ that was the cause of death all the way back to the spine and the spinal connection. And in 96.4% of the cases the organ and nerve that was related to the cause of death was always misaligned. And for those that weren’t misaligned, the one above or the one below was misaligned.”

Our bodies are electrical. Nerves branch from the spinal column to every organ in the body. If the nerve is impinged, the electrical current is affected and function of the organ suffers. Conversely, if the organ is suffering, it can affect the spinal alignment. Dr Kelly says, “The vertebras are almost like the circuit breakers in your house. If you overload the circuits, yes, that circuit will trip. If someone has a severe allergy and they ingest or inhale that allergen, their top vertebrae will usually rotate. The spine will just shift.”

The majority of chiropractors today are no longer the purists of yesteryear who restricted treatment to spinal manipulation believing subluxations to be the only impediment to the body’s ability to heal itself. The majority now embrace a holistic approach to health and they recognize poor nutrition, toxicity, and a sedentary lifestyle as major causal factors in disease. Many employ various methods beyond spinal manipulation including supplementation and nutritional, detox, and lifestyle counseling along with massage, hydrotherapy, hot and cold treatments, and orthotics. Their choice of practice may, however, be restricted by their license as each state sets its own treatment parameters.

One major criticism of chiropractic is that adjustments don’t hold and patients return again and again for realignment. Many critics claim there is no real progress made and that chiropractic care is no more than a “feel good” treatment with no lasting value.
When chiropractors do not take a holistic approach to treatment, this can be true. If the patient does not exercise and strengthen the muscles that hold the spine in place or continues to abuse his/her body through poor nutrition and exposure to toxins, adjustments do not hold. Dr. Kelly says, “I try to get people to look at, ‘What will best suit me to help me from needing to get worked on over and over again?’ You have to exercise. You have to eat right. You have to rest properly. But there are people who have been hit by cars or have fallen out of trees. People like that need ongoing care to some extent.”

Dr. Kelly has found orthotic shoe inserts to be invaluable in his practice. “Make sure your foundation is stable. I wholeheartedly endorse orthotic shoe inserts simply because they help people stay more balanced. You can put some custom fitted shoe inserts in somebody’s shoes and immediately their unlevel hips or their unlevel shoulders straighten back up. When you’re walking around lopsided and you do something that causes you to straighten out, it’s simple bio-mechanics. It’s going to change how long your adjustment will last.” Dr. Kelly jokingly tells us that high quality custom orthotic shoe inserts are going to put him out of business because they drastically reduce or in many cases eliminate the need for regular spinal adjustments.

Stabilizing the spine and improving the diet are essential. But we also need to remember that the muscles and ligaments provide the structure to hold the spine in place. Muscle tone and strength are essential. But people begin to lose upper body muscle strength in their 40s and 50s. Dr. Kelly recommends we combine aerobic and anaerobic exercise (weight lifting/body building) as we age. “Each each year as you get into your 40’s and your 50’s you should increase your anaerobic exercise. That can be as simple as having a two or three pound weight on the coffee table to pick up when you’re watching television to do some arm, shoulder, and wrist stretches because people get to a point when they’re elderly when they can’t even pick up a can of soup or a pot to put it in because they just don’t have the strength.”

The main issues Dr. Kelly tries to endorse or teach are as follows:

• Make sure you digest your food. Chew your foods thoroughly because if you rush your meals or drink fluids when you eat, you are not going to digest your food properly and you will not receive its nutrition.
• Balance your omega 3s and omega 6s.
• Cut back on grains. We weren’t meant to eat grains year round or to eat so many grains.
• Increase fruits and vegetables.
• Choose your proteins wisely.  Increase fish and wild game over conventional grain fed animals that are diseased, acidic, and too high in omega 6s.
• Get rid of irritants in your diet. If a food makes you tired, lethargic, or gives you a runny nose, avoid it.
• Get custom orthotics to balance you out. (Foot Levelers is the best company he has found).

At OLM we recommend you choose a chiropractor with a holistic approach. Find one who carries the highest quality supplements. Beware of any health care practitioner who lacks an understanding of nutrition and only uses supplements as the “quick fix” for acute health care problems. Don’t just treat symptoms. Work with your chiropractor to achieve your optimum health. Dr. Timothy Kelly’s treatment center is located in the Buckhead community of Atlanta, Georgia. He is available for phone consultations. Check out his website at www.drtimkelly.net.

Are you using non-stick cookware? Are you aware that non-stick coating is made with chemicals that the EPA has found to be cancer causing or likely to cause cancer? 

Overheating non-stick coatings releases dangerous toxic gases that cause flu-like symptoms in humans and kill birds. However, DuPont is quick to assure us that this poses no health threat to us. In addition their website tells us, “DuPont non-stick coatings on cookware are formulated and quality tested to resist peeling or chipping which will occur if cookware is misused. However, in the event that particles from DuPont non-stick coatings are accidentally eaten, there is no danger. These particles are harmless. They are nontoxic and inert. If eaten, they pass directly through the body and are not absorbed. The FDA has stated that eating particles of non-stick coating poses no health threat.” 

So why does the EPA say one thing and the FDA another?    

And if these particles “pass directly through the body” why does a new study of 45 nursing mothers (research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst) reveal that the breast milk from every woman tested was found to contain perflourinated compounds (PFCs) used in non-stick cookware and stain resistant fabrics?    

Do you really want to breathe and ingest these chemicals? 

If low-fat cooking is your goal, try vegetable or animal broth instead of fats or steam your food. If a non-stick cooking surface is essential, properly season a cast iron pan. You’ll be surprised how well it works!

1. Stock Up On Alternative Healthier Choices For Sweets

Refined sugar wreaks havoc on your immune system and acidifies your body. The less refined the sugar is, the less damage you will do to your body. See our sugar alternative page at www.greenmagazines.com/organic/alternative-sugars.php for some ideas. There are lots of sweets that are made with better sugars than the white refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup most candy manufacturers use.

2. Educate Your Kids

Remind them what it felt like the last time they got sick. Prepare them ahead of time. Prime them to be ready to make better decisions with you.

3.   Limit Your Sweets Consumption

Even Agave nectar and raw honey should be limited. Stevia is not a sweetener you need worry about, but any others, even unrefined sugars, should be eaten in moderation.

4.   Do a Trade—Negotiate

When they get back from their trick or treating expedition, offer them a trade. Make it a game. Teach them how to negotiate. It can be fun! You may also want to keep healthier alternatives with you while trick-or-treating in case you or your kids get the munchies during your adventure.

5.   Cook With Them

Bake healthier choices (organic cookies—stevia, raw honey, or fruit juice sweetened treats).

6.   Offer Your Kids Money For Their Hard Earned Candy

You can always bribe them. Hey, it’s better than making them sick! Just make sure they don’t go and buy more candy.

7.   Offer Your Kids Toys Instead of Candy

Try squirt guns, games, movies, anything they would rather have than candy. And you can give them toys that will last, as opposed to candy that will be gone quickly.

8.   Offer Trick-Or-Treaters Toys Instead of Candy

They get enough candy from everyone else. Try squirt guns, glow bracelets, or jacks. There are a lot of inexpensive small toys you can give away.

9.   Make Your Own Costumes

You can make your own costumes out of items you don’t need, and you can do it with your kids and make it fun. Reusing is even better than recycling.

10.   If All Else Fails, Set a Time Limit

If healthier sweets are not an option, you can give them a time limit. Let them know they have one day or x-amount of hours to consume as much junk as they want. Throw the rest away.

I’m watching TV and I see a commercial where a couple is in the park and the girl offers the guy a taste of her Popsicle. It’s a red Popsicle—a nutrient free snack of frozen artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, and high fructose corn syrup. He is hesitant. “It’s got high fructose corn syrup in it,” he says. She looks at him like he’s stupid. “So?” she says. He responds with, “So you know what they say about it.” “What?” she asks. He stutters, not knowing what to say. She then tells him “That’s it’s made from corn, has the same calories as sugar and honey, and is fine in moderation?” still looking at him like he’s an idiot. And then the commercial tells you to “Get the Facts at www.sweetsurprise.com.” 

So it turns out that high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you then table sugar! That’s great news! High fructose corn syrup is relatively low on the glycemic index, and it’s made from corn, a vegetable! They don’t mention the fact that excess fructose processed in the liver gets turned into fats-triglycerides, or that fructose is linked to significant increases of both cholesterol and triglycerides, or that high fructose corn syrup is a highly refined processed sugar devoid of any nutrition. So they took out all of the nutrients and refined corn down to an acidic, toxic, fattening, cholesterol raising, triglyceride increasing sweetener. Who cares? It’s made from a vegetable! Ok, so maybe the vegetable is genetically modified too, but still, it’s gotta be good for you, right? I mean the website www.sweetsurprise.com says it’s good for you! Well, okay, they don’t say it’s good for you, but they sure do their best to make you believe it.

Well, I for one am relieved to know that I can go drink a soda and know that it’s no worse than ingesting table sugar, because the high fructose corn syrup association says so. They say it’s fine in moderation. And if you can’t trust an association, who can you trust? Does this sound familiar? Didn’t the tobacco association tell us smoking was fine in moderation?

Well, anyway, since that Popsicle is obviously good for me, I guess I can eat all the Halloween candy I want. This is great!

Is it just me, or did that girl holding the Popsicle look evil? Kinda like one of Satan’s minions?

Oh well, I’m not concerned. We can all trust the high fructose corn syrup association and the sugar association, the Food and Drug Administration, oh, and any other association that has our best interests at heart.

And since you now know that high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you than white table sugar, go read about how good white table sugar is
for you in our August issue.

In this issue check out High Fructose Corn Syrup – A Not So Sweet Surprise, and get the rest of the facts!

If you shop at a typical supermarket, the prices on organic produce might be enough to convince you that only the rich can afford an organic diet. But you, too, can afford to eat organic. 

The first step is to educate yourself. Right now, we are spending money on being sick (health insurance, co-pays, medication) instead of spending money on being healthy. Your health begins with eating good food loaded with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Whenever possible, that means buying an organic product over a regular one. But it doesn’t always need to be labeled USDA Organic to be a better choice. Did you know the Certified Naturally Grown label also certifies food as organically grown?

Locally grown fruit and vegetables bought at a vegetable stand on the side of the road may have been grown organically. Many small farmers don’t go to the expense of certification. Ask them about pesticide use and crop rotation and do your best to support these small organic farms. Their food has more vitamins, minerals, and enzymes than the organic food farmed by the big agriculture companies (due to a lack of crop rotation).

When trying to find the cheapest possible food, you should look at the amount of nutrition you are getting for your money. Instead of focusing on getting full, focus on getting nourished. Instead of relying on microwave dinners or Top Ramen, buy some brown rice and kale and throw them in a slow cooker or toss whole wheat pasta enriched with fiber into a pot of water. It takes no more effort than heating up your mac ‘n cheese but the health benefits are much greater. Think about what you are buying. You could spend $10 on a cooked chicken from the grocery store, or you could spend $6 on organic, naturally raised chicken legs, $2 on sweet potatoes, and $2 on broccoli. See how you can manage eating well on a budget?

When you stop buying processed foods, including processed “health foods,” your budget will benefit. When you lower your consumption of protein and buy fresh fruits and vegetables in season, your food expenditures will go down.
Author David Hennessey, in  How to Buy Organic Food Inexpensively, says his family ate organic for the five months they lived on welfare. You can go organic without having to be rich!

Here are some more tips for shopping healthy even when money is tight:

• Compare the price of organic fruits and vegetables at your local farmers market or health food store to your local grocery store. You might be very surprised at the difference. And get to know your prices – sometimes organic products are less than regular items or the same price.
• Check online to see if your area has a real farmers market. Sometimes areas have a “parking lot” farmers market on the weekends. The food is often grown naturally (without pesticides) and is so much fresher than something that was shipped across the country a week or two ago – and usually at about the same price you’d pay at the grocery store. If you go to the market, you’ll get the bonus of enjoying your area’s bounty while supporting local farmers and their families. Get to know the person that grew your food – you won’t believe what a difference it makes!
• Take the amount of what you normally spend on groceries – say it’s $150 every 2 weeks – and see where that money is going. Is any of it going to impulse buys, junk food or unnecessary items?  If so, allocate that money to investing in healthier choices.
• Invest in buying those items that are worth going organic for, like peaches, apples and sweet bell peppers. When grown commercially, these foods are extremely high in pesticides. You can get a full list in the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce from the Environmental Working Group Website –   www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php
• If you need to buy some conventionally grown foods, buy onions, avocadoes, and pineapple, as these have the fewest pesticides. Use that extra money to buy organic meat and grains. (Remember, you should always buy organic meats. When you eat off the top of the food chain, you are eating everything that animal ate include growth hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides.)
• Those free circulars and magazines at natural and health food stores often have coupons or deals for organic products. Sometime you can even email for a free sample. This is a great way to try something new.
• Buy dry goods, such as beans and rice, in bulk.
• Consider growing your own organic vegetables. They will taste better than anything you buy and will cost a few cents as opposed to a few dollars.
• Remember, some farmers cannot afford the cost of being organically certified but follow the same practices as those who are. Enquire at your local health and natural food stores. You might be surprised to learn that you’ve been buying “organic” all along!
• Is it worth a little extra time and energy to learn more about organic food?  Absolutely!  Not only are you and your family benefitting from a healthier lifestyle, you are helping the planet too.

Halloween has been totally hijacked by ecologically damaging consumerism. From the expensive shop-bought costumes made from petroleum based materials and the plastic pumpkins to the chemical-laden sweets and the toxic face paints, we spend our money on things that damage our children’s health and our planet. I know, so far I sound like a party pooper. But with a little thought, you can have a Halloween that doesn’t cost the earth, your health, or your pocket. And you’ll have a lot more fun.

Fabulously freaky costumes can be created from clothing found at thrift stores or the back of your wardrobe. Is there an old sheet dying to be a ghost? A dark shawl? A black paper hat and a branch saved from the bonfire would make a fine witch. With a few ribbons, some feathers, safety pins, or even recycled tin foil, you and your children are all set for a creative afternoon’s work! You will feed their imaginations, and their sense of achievement will far exceed any “perfect” off-the-peg creation.

Use cardboard from old boxes, paint, and decorations to make masks. If you choose to use face paint, there are some lovely natural, plant-based versions on the market. Try Lyra face paints, which come in pencil, crayon, or paint.

Next comes the Halloween centre piece: the pumpkin. Think of how many fields were devoted to growing pumpkins this year, most of them sprayed with pesticides. An organic pumpkin, especially at this time of year, will barely cost you more. Not only will your choice make a statement to the growers, you’ll have all the scrapings from inside your pumpkin for a yummy meal after trick-or -treating.

For a quick delicious soup, just add water, milk, and nutmeg to the pulp. Heat and blend. Even the seeds are great roasted with some Eco-friendly Costume soy sauce or salt. Younger children love to rinse the slimy seeds in a colander. You could even create a longer-term project with the kids by saving a handful of seeds, drying them in paper bag in a warm dry place, and planting them in the spring for next year.

Conventional pumpkins will probably be hybrids, with seeds that won’t reproduce properly if they grow at all.

Halloween was originally a festival to mark the end of the growing season and the beginning of the dark, ‘dead’ months ahead. So surround yourself with the last of the year’s bright outdoor colours! To decorate your house, take a walk in the woods. Fallen tree boughs, moss, bright fall leaves, and apples will look wonderful. So will paper garlands cut in ghoulish shapes, made from paper scraps you have saved.

You can even cut your electric costs for the night by turning off the lights and filling the room with candles. Choose deliciously scented beeswax candles rather than petroleum-based ones. Just keep them safe from the children and all those lovingly-made paper garlands!

Last but certainly not least, come the candies and treats. Most of today’s Halloween candy comes heavily packaged. Some of it is made with genetically modified foods, and most of it is full of artificial colours, flavorings, and preservatives. But there are plenty of great alternatives nowadays, available in natural food supermarkets or online. My favorite is Yummy Earth’s organic candies, which come in so many fantastic, natural flavors. You could also try your hand at homemade candy apples for some sticky fun. Roasted nuts are a great