It seems like a never-ending battle with the kids. Although you and I know veggies are delicious and they`re also good for you, they act like vegetables are a plague they want to avoid at all costs.

If you need creative ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables, here are 9 ideas to incorporate into your daily meals right away:

1. Make healthy choices readily available and put the sugary and greasy snacks away. This doesn`t mean totally depriving yourselves of these delightful treats, but making healthy eating a normal part of your day goes a long way to helping kids develop better eating habits.

2. Add veggies like carrots or even asparagus to smoothies. Kids love fruit smoothies and they’ll never know you put in a little of those dreaded vegetables in.

3. Sneak vegetables into other foods. For example: Add grated carrots into spaghetti sauce or make a zucchini chocolate cake.

4. Try dip. You know kids love to dip everything. Just make sure they know they have to eat the dip stick and not just lick it!

5. Take your kids shopping with you. Let your child pick out a new vegetable in the grocery store that they`ve never tried. Then prepare the vegetable together.

6. Be patient and consistent. Avoid having a tantrum yourself when your child has a tantrum about vegetables on their plate. Sometimes it will take several times of serving the same food before your child is even willing to try it.

7. Make it artistic and fun. Place veggies into a smiley face on your child`s plate or decorate a pizza with them.

8. Let them choose: raw or cooked. Some children may have a definite preference as to whether their veggies are cooked or raw.

9. Plan your meals. Sometimes it`s easy to forget the veggies when you don`t have a plan...allowing your kids to get into the habit of veggie-free meals. Plan your meals and grocery lists in advance, so you won`t come up short on the greenery.

To make your meal planning a whole lot easier, sign up for your 1 ¢ no-risk trial at Dine Without Whine. They put together your weekly dinner plan and even make a quick and easy printable grocery list for you. Click here to get started.

Suffering from Eczema, or know someone who is? About.com has an article with some tips for treating it naturally. Click here to read the article.

Evan's Garden News: Oxygen and Your Health


We all know that oxygen is essential for human and animal life. But few are aware that many people are actually deficient in this vital element, and that this deficiency can contribute to a host of illnesses, including cancer.

Symptoms of oxygen deficiency may include fatigue, predisposition to infections of all kinds including colds and flu, digestive trouble, depression, foggy memory, irritability, breathing difficulty, achy muscles, and others.

Common causes of oxygen deficiency include poor ventilation of indoor spaces, improper, shallow breathing, chemical toxicity, exposure to carbon monoxide from air pollution (car exhaust or other sources), and the depletion of available oxygen in densely populated urban areas where cars, industry and heating systems consume huge quantities of oxygen and where the plants that would replace that oxygen have been paved over with concrete and asphalt.

To improve one's health, energy and sense of well-being, it's important to make sure one is getting enough oxygen. Here are some tips to assist you:

1. Get plenty of fresh, outdoor air. If you have a wooded area in which you may walk in the middle of the day, take a good long walk there. Also, have your dwelling checked by an heating/air conditioning specialist to make sure you are getting plenty of fresh air from the outside. Special Energy Recovery Ventilation Systems are available that help bring in fresh air without dramatically increasing your heating or cooling costs.

2. Breathe deeply. Sit or stand erect, not slouched. Expand your both the chest and the abdomen and pause for a few moments between breaths. You can learn excellent deep-breathing techniques in yoga classes or from books.

3. Get frequent aerobic exercise. Brisk walking, running, cycling or other activities increase the flow of oxygen throughout the body.

4. Eat smaller meals that contain lots of nutrients (not junk foods or fast food). Excessive eating depletes oxygen, and junk foods fail to supply trace elements that the body needs to take in and utilize oxygen. High-density "green foods" such as the juiced grasses of wheat and barley contain vitamins, trace minerals and healthful plant chemicals: Click here, then go to "Nutritional Supplements."

5. Consume antioxidants in your diet. These help the body utilize oxygen more effectively and handle the inevitable waste product of oxygen activity. Common antioxidants include vitamins E, C and A, Co-Enzyme Q-10, and others.

6. Avoid air pollutants, especially the fumes from cars, gas stoves and gas heaters. Avoid oxygen-consuming chemicals such as alcohol and drugs.

7. Consume additional oxygen from other sources such as oxygenated drinking water, fresh foods and juices. Oxygen concentrators may be purchased online and used carefully, according to the instructions. (Yes, there can be too much of a good thing - even oxygen!).

8. Soak in an oxygen bath! You can create one by adding 1/2 to one quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide to a bath. But make sure to filter the toxic chlorine from your bath water: Click here, then go to "Tools for Healthy Living."

We hope you find this information helpful, and that you'll breathe easier just knowing it!

Researchers found differences in nitrogen and carbon when samples from females at an eating-disorder clinic were compared with hair from females who didn't have a problem. They said they were able to accurately determine the source 80 percent of the time.

The lead author, Kent Hatch, said hair acts like a "tape recorder."

Just as it can be used to determine if someone has used drugs or has been exposed to harmful amounts of mercury and lead, hair can show what someone has been eating, Hatch said.

Larger studies are planned to possibly develop a test that can be used in clinics. The research was published Monday in a journal, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.

"This would give a clinician an objective measure to use to diagnose an eating disorder, and we hope it will eventually allow a sound diagnosis at an earlier stage," said Hatch, a professor in BYU's department of integrative biology.

A test is needed in the diagnosis of eating disorders because those who suffer from them tend to be secretive about their problem or may not even know they are ill.

"Their self-evaluation is very impaired," said Jennifer Tolman, clinical director at Avalon Hills, a treatment facility in Cache County, Utah.

"We had a girl who was 5-10 and 98 pounds and she wasn't even sure she had an eating disorder, although she could recognize it in others," Tolman said.

Doctors and therapists often must rely upon patients to report what and how much they eat, information that can be unreliable.

"They are poor historians by nature," Tolman said.

She had not seen the BYU study and declined to comment on the findings. Tolman said damage from eating disorders heart problems, elevated liver enzymes, drops in bone density can be irreversible and sometimes life threatening.

The BYU research was conducted by faculty in integrative biology, communications, statistics and geology.

A co-author, Steven Thomsen, said the project grew from earlier research on the link between eating disorders and exposure to fashion, fitness and beauty magazines. He told his colleagues it would be helpful to biologically determine the same results.

"We have talked about going back and re-exploring some of the things we've studied and adding this variable," Thomsen said of the hair test.

On the Net:

Brigham Young University, http://www.byu.edu



Naturopaths Recommend Organic Food for Detoxification of Cancer Cells
Newindpress - Chennai, India, October 8 2006
Straight to the Source

NEW DELHI: Many people are falling prey to cancer due to increased stress and strain induced lifestyle, and unhealthy eating habits, according to a study by National Academy of Naturopathy.

"The food taken in does not provide live atoms to the body cells. The cells are starved from nutrition and clogged with toxins called cellular constipation leading to mal-absorption and diseases. This in turn brings down immunity which invites host of illness and suffering," says Dr Hemalatha Murthy of the National Academy of Naturopathy.

"The right approach to treat is to adopt naturopathic principles, which emphasise on detoxification, reliving cellular constipation by providing live (organic) food. The live food has enzymes which act as catalyst for detoxification and absorption of nutrients," she adds.

Dr Steven A Rosenberg, who operated on former US President Ronald Reagan's colon cancer, had reportedly put him on diet therapy instead of chemo or radiotherapy that Dr Murthy recalls.

Although surgery has brought about a breakthrough in treating various ailments, disease prevention and health promotion areas have been neglected, deplores Dr Murthy.

In Cancer, where cells multiply uncontrollably, destroying healthy tissue and harming life, surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy are timely relief and not a complete treatment says Dr Murthy.

She says, with the basic understanding about Metastasis (the spread of cancer from its primary site to other parts), a fresh approach of comprehensive drugless therapy is needed. This complete treatment modality for cancer alone can have three-dimensional approach ­ preventive, curative and health promotion.

Organic matter has all these three aspects. Under Naturopathy, juices of certain vegetables and fruits are used as cancer fighting foods.

"Cabbage speeds up metabolism of oestrogen and is useful in Colon cancer. Carrot juice acts as an antidote to lung cancer," says Dr Murthy.

Beet juice rich in sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulphur, chlorine, iodine, iron, copper, Vitamin B1, B2, B6 niacin is known to have cancer-curing powers.

Juice of citrus fruits like lemon, orange and grapefruit are used as anti-cancer compound. Spinach, lettuce and broccoli juice act as antioxidants.

Indian Gooseberry is a potent antitoxin for cancer cells, says Dr Murthy.

While, wheat bran decreases estrogens (also oestrogen's) in blood, wheat grass juice repair damaged cells in Leukemics.

A cancer patient is also advised to take fiber rich foods like bran, oats, barley, legumes, carrot, beet, turnip, leafy vegetables and cabbage.

On a daily basis, 100-150 gram fruits, 100-gram raw leafy vegetables, 1 fruit or 175-ml. fruit or vegetable juice would be an ideal nutritional meal.

Spirulina, a species of blue-green algae used in juices to boast their nutritional value, increases natural cancer fighting substances in body. Spirulina is 60 per cent all-vegetable protein, rich in beta-carotene, iron, vitamin B-12 and the rare essential fatty acid, GLA.

All these vegetables and fruit juices also inhibit the growth of cancer.

Various internal and external factors act as agents that promote cancer. "Awareness of carcinogens and various causative factors of internal and external environment are important and useful in prevention and treatment of Cancer," she says.

"Asbestos, plastic, leather, synthetic textile factories, aluminium vessel cooking, nuclear wastes, lead filled exhaust fumes of motor vehicle, nitrates, fertilizers, food colouring and chlorination are carcinogenic", says Dr. Murthy.

She further says, "Oral contraceptives - cause liver, uterus and breast cancer; Immuno-suppressant drugs - cause liver gall-bladder, lungs and skin cancers; excessive intake of fat increases risk of cancer of uterus, rectum, colon and stomach; alcohol, excessive caffeine ­ cause cancer of pancreas and urinary bladder".


Why should you use natural skin care products? Read this eye-opening article from Andrew W. Saul, PhD: Natural Skin Care


Should your water and/or toothpaste contain fluoride? Here are some "Must Read" articles about fluoride.

Fluoride Follies by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD
Water Fluoridation by Andrew W. Saul, PhD
Fluoridation Side Effects by Peter Meiers, Saarbruecken, Germany
Fluoridation of our water is "dangerous unscientific nonsense"

Click on the links below for interesting articles from "Green Guidance," which are updated every two weeks!