Cold/Flu Remedy

     Hey, just wanted to do a quick post of an awesome herb for this winter!!!  I've told several people about this (including our accountant :-)  and I decided since this seems to be the best kept secret since I-don't-know-what, I'd share it.  OK, you want to know what the miracle cure/preventive for colds, flu, sinus infections and anything else caused by viruses, bacteria or fungi is????

OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT

     Yup, you read that right.  Apparently the olive tree has some really awesome properties, besides just the olives and the oil.  (Kind of ironic that it's a common tree in Israel- The Promised Land.  God's pretty amazing, isn't He?).  The leaves of the tree have anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties.

     Let me give you  my history with this herb......

     Four years ago when we started on our Autism Journey with dear Reece, we discovered that he had a major yeast overgrowth in his intestines (found through labs done with our DAN! doctor).  He was suppose to take olive leaf extract to fight it, but at the time, all I could find were these big, honkin' capsules that a little four-year-old boy could not (refused!) swallow.  You couldn't break open the capsule and disguise it with anything either because of the rather unpleasant, potent taste.  So, I put the big bottle at the back of my cabinet and used other methods (which, by the way, was a low-sugar diet, biotin, and major probiotics).  We kicked the yeast and moved on.  Well, when Lindy was just at a year old, I developed a major sinus infection.  I saw our family doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic, which I took and, which got rid of the infection. The side effect was that since I was still nursing her, I either had to quit for a week and just wean her completely.  Even though I wasn't ready, I weaned her.  So, a year and a half later, I was getting ready for a very sad and emotional trip to northern Nebraska to attend my uncle's funeral.  We were leaving at the beginning of the week, so that Sunday I was trying to get the house in order (Jeff and the twins stayed home) and pack for me and Lindy.  I could tell I was developing another sinus infection (the pain in my jaw, teeth and sinuses, plus the green snot was a dead giveaway), but, being a Sunday, I chose to ignore it.  We were leaving at 8 am the next morning, so no hope of going to the doctor.  On a whim, I dug out the olive leaf extract, and that morning took 3 capsules.  By noon, I was feeling a bit better, so I took 3 more.  By evening, the pain was gone in my face.  I took 3 more before bed.  I woke up the next morning with clear mucus.  I continued to take another 9 capsules that day and by  night the sinus infection WAS GONE!  I mean, completely GONE!  I couldn't believe it!  So, ever since then, I have been a firm believer in the power of herbs.  We keep some on hand at all times.  I've even convinced my mother-in-law.  As soon as I feel the beginning of a cold or something else coming on, I hit the olive leaf and I rarely develop a full blown infection of anything.  Finally, this winter, I learned how to make a liquid herbal tincture using dried olive leaves, so now my kids can have some.  

     So, there you have it.  Go to your nearest health food store and pick up some olive leaf.  It's a whole lot easier than getting sick and treating the symptoms :-)

The Evils of Soy

     OK, I just got done checking out an autism forum (gfcfdiet.com, if anyone's interested!) and there was a thread on there about the real soy story.  And that got me thinking about farming, and soy, and Monsanto and our idiot FDA.  Apparently, most people don't realize the hidden dangers and how much soy is really in our food.  For almost 3 years, we were a completely soy free family and let me tell you, it's HARD!  You have to be vigilant about labels and soy will creep up in the most unforeseen places.  When we put Reece back on a normal diet, I quit reading labels quite so closely, but I generally know what's soy-free and what's not.  But, it seems so oxymoron-ish of me because my husband, father, father-in-law and a slew of uncles, are all soybean farmers!!!  Except that I feel like us farmers are actually the victims in this whole drama.  Its a case of conspiracies and good ol' supply and demand. 
     First of all, the dangers of soy- Soy is one of the most common allergens.  Its also a hormone disrupter for men and women, and actually does not contain the health benefits touted by the advertising agencies and the USDA and the FDA and the soybean check off people.  If you read the studies closely, the ones that were done to supposedly prove that it lowers cholesterol, prevents heart disease, etc. ,etc.  you'll actually find that the results were inconclusive at best.  Did you know that, technically, soy only has FDA approval for use in cardboard boxes?  Yeah.... and that to use soy in food it has to go through such a process that its impossible to recreate in the regular kitchen?  And we eat this stuff... happily, too!  Soy is found in almost every type of food that comes in a package.  And we feed it to our babies!!!  Even if you don't/didn't use soy formula, did you know its in rice cereal?  Yup, rice cereal and oatmeal has SOY in it.  Now, you can buy the organic version and then it tends to be soy-free.  I had a friend once whose son had been breastfed and when he was 6 months old they started him on rice cereal.  She was one of those first-time mommies that tried to do everything by the modern book.  After a week or so of rice cereal and having a horrible, screaming baby on her hands, she decided to stop the cereal, but she still couldn't figure out why he cried and screamed so much during that time.  So, a week or so later, she gave him rice cereal again and again, same reaction.  She finally figured out it was the cereal, but still had no idea WHY.  OK, fast forward a few years.  Her son had had chronic diarrhea his whole, short life and after getting her husband diagnosed with celiac, she decided to also put her son on a gluten-free diet.  Still didn't help.  About this time, Reece got all of his many food intolerances diagnosed and I had started my deep research into the world of soy.  I suggested she also take out soy and dairy.  To make a long story short, she got him officially tested and it came back that he was allergic to dairy, gluten and soy.  One day, when we were talking about his babyhood, she told me the rice cereal story.  On a hunch, I out my unused box of baby rice cereal and read the ingredients.... sure enough, my hunch was confirmed.  He had been reacting to the soy in the box! 
     Unfortunately, for us farmers, if you wanna make money, you gotta grow what makes sense (or "cents!).  Right now beans are at $11 and our yield this fall were really good.  Soybeans make us money most years.  That's a fact.  The price is so high, because to put it simply, people demand it!  Oh, I know, you don't walk down the street shouting, "We want soy!  We want soy!" but you do say it with your spending habits.  Anytime you frequent a fast food restaurant or eat almost any food from a can, box, or package (including meats!) you are further fueling the demand and we answer with the supply. 
      Then, to top it all off, Monsanto makes it so easy (kinda, anyway) for us to grow it!  Round-up Ready (or genetically modified organisms) have made growing soybeans a piece of cake, until this year anyway (more on that in a bit!).   All we have to do is plant (the horribly expensive-because-you-have-to-pay-unreal-tech-fees-so-Monsanto-doesn't-throw-you-in-jail) seed, spray it a few times with glyphosate (Round-up) and viola! you have money in the bank.  One big catch is, though, you CANNOT save your seed or Monsanto will jail you, seriously.  So, you buy new seed every year so you can the convenience of "easy" money.  But, something somewhat unforeseen happened this year that's thrown farmers, seed companies, and chemical companies for a loop- several key weeds developed a resistance to Round-up.  Specifically, marestail, waterhemp, and pigweed.  Now we have to throw bigger, "badder" chemicals at it to get the same result.  Hence, resulting in added pollution, cancer, and all sorts of other modern maladies.  Plus, its more expensive.
     So, the bottom line is, if you consumers would QUIT consuming soy (do your own research and you'll see why its so bad for you!), we farmers would quit growing it and the world would be a much happier place.  And cows, pigs and chickens everywhere who are forced to eat this crap would thank you also! 


And that is my rant of the day......  Hope you learned something, or at least are intrigued enough to educate yourself on the subject, instead of just blindly following the masses.....