Category Archives: Natural Treatment

Natural Treatment, Prevention

Evening Primrose

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I am officially one week away from “full term” in my pregnancy, and it’s the strangest phenomenon. Sometimes I wake up and forget I’m pregnant. It’s not until I try to hoist myself out of bed that I remember- oh, yes, I’m carrying an extra 36 pounds and another human inside of me.
Speaking of 36 lbs, that’s also something I forget until I see a photograph someone has take of me and then I realize once again that I am indeed great, GREAT with child.

So since I am on the home stretch, I have added an additional supplement to my daily regime of prenatal vitamins, red raspberry leaf tea, fish oil and chia seeds:


Evening Primrose Oil

Evening Primrose is native to North America, has beautiful yellow flowers that bloom in the evening, and its oil contains gamma linoleic acid.  GLA is used medicinally in the treatment of inflammation, eczema, arthritis, and PMS.

EPO to ripen cervix

Evening Primrose Oil is also recommended by midwives for use during the last month of pregnancy to soften and thin the cervix in preparation for labor.  I used this with my last pregnancy and was 100% effaced and by 37 weeks.  Effacement, which is also called cervical ripening, is the process of the cervix as it softens, shortens and becomes thinner.  I must believe that the Evening Primrose Oil helped, as I was a first time mom!

The essential fatty acids the oil provides are also beneficial for this stage of pregnancy, since they are anti-inflammatory and nobody wants cankles!

As with everything I write about, this is something I’ve done with success but you must consult your doctor or midwife before adding any supplement to your diet during pregnancy.  If she gives you the go-ahead, let me know how it worked for you!

Natural Treatment

Chocolate for Coughs

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I just read the most exciting news about health and healing ever.

There is an article on Dr. Alan Greene’s website about a study that was done using dark chocolate to treat a cough! YES- you read right. In it, researchers discovered that chocolate works better than codeine for relieving a cough.   It only takes about 2 ounces for an adult to reap the benefits, and one ounce for a child.

If you’ve been around my son lately, or ever, you know how much he loves chocolate and how he chants about it and asks for it all the time.  We have been giving him dark chocolate since he’s been on solid food, and he loves the bitter taste and subtle sweetness. We recently found a 91% cacao chocolate bar that he loves!

toddler loves chocolate

He has a cough now, and I’m heading to Whole Foods to buy that chocolate. He’ll be so happy with his “medicine” tonight!

Natural Treatment

More Reasons To Avoid OTC Drugs

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There has been even more news lately about the danger of giving children Tylenol. It is tied to asthma when given in the first year of life, and new studies show that teens who regularly take acetaminophen were more than twice as likely to have asthma and allergies. Combined with the recalls and unknown long term side effects of these drugs, I plan to avoid them altogether.

But what’s a parent to do?

Use natural remedies to reduce teething pain and fever in infants and toddlers.
I’ve written about many natural teething remedies- click here and here for a list of posts.

Many trusted pediatricians concur that fever is the body’s way of creating an inhospitable environment for viruses and bacteria- thus fighting off these illnesses. Most say to let a fever run its course, but do things to keep your baby comfortable.  (Please note- this is for older babies only: we were told by our pediatrician that in babies under 6 weeks old, a fever of 100.5 or higher warrants a trip to the emergency room!)

Of course you never want to let a fever get dangerously high- here are links to some great information on causes of fever, as well as the best way to treat them and when to call the doctor:

Dr. Feder

Dr. Sears

Dr. Greene

Fertility, Natural Treatment

Can Foods Contribute to Infertility?

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Are you having a hard time getting pregnant, and have no idea why?  I addressed one possible cause in my post Is Your Wheat Toast To Blame for Infertility? and it’s worth bringing up again.  The New York Times recently put a spotlight on this hidden factor in many couples difficulty trying to conceive.  My advice if you are experiencing unexplained infertility is to remove gluten from both you and your partner’s diets because untreated celiac disease is a contributing factor.  It might sound extreme, but if you’ve tried everything else, why not give it a shot?  It’s getting easier and easier to do, with most natural food stores dedicating entire aisles to gluten free foods.  It will probably open up your world to different grains and more fruits and veggies.

If you wonder what you can possibly eat if you’re avoiding gluten, check out this random list of gluten free foods:

  1. corn tortillas
  2. apples
  3. chicken
  4. rice
  5. coffee
  6. chocolate
  7. peanut butter
  8. milk
  9. cheese
  10. steak
  11. potatoes
  12. green beans
  13. salad
  14. eggs
  15. sunflower seeds
  16. mochi
  17. salsa
  18. corn chips
  19. nuts
  20. apple sauce
  21. yogurt
  22. beef
  23. cucumbers
  24. fish
  25. ice cream
  26. pears
  27. bananas
  28. hummus
  29. black beans
  30. pinto beans
  31. refried beans
  32. carrots
  33. corn
  34. lettuce
  35. cabbage
  36. wheat free tamari soy sauce
  37. tapioca
  38. bacon
  39. turkey
  40. rice noodles
  41. mushrooms
  42. sprouts
  43. zucchini
  44. peaches
  45. melons
  46. grits
  47. onions
  48. eggplant
  49. flour alternatives – sorghum, rice, tapioca, corn starch, buckwheat (technically a cousin to the rhubarb family), potato starch.
  50. raisins
  51. popcorn
  52. berries
  53. rice crackers
  54. peaches
  55. tomatoes
  56. fruit smoothies
  57. ketchup
  58. butter
  59. peas
  60. chick peas
  61. yams
  62. dried fruit
  63. pistachios

And the list goes on…